Cash for Crappers
You can always count on the Tucson City Council for a good laugh. Today’s snort? A rebate program to replace that old toilet. Yes, that’s right its the Cash for Crappers program. Read on my friends…
Is your toilet a clunker?
Well, if it was made before 1991 and uses more than 3ƒ gallons per flush, then you’ve got a clunker.
And Tucson Water wants you to get rid of it. The utility is offering to pay half the cost of high-efficiency toilets for its customers to get rid of the water-wasting potties. The high-efficiency toilets use less than 1.3 gallons per flush. Mind you, these are not to be confused with low-flow toilets, which use about 1.6 gallons per flush.
So that works out to a savings of .3 gallon per flush. Heck, I could give up two beers and accomplish the same thing. Anyway… Who measures this stuff anyway and would you want to do this for a living? Not me. It’s like a scene from a CSI episode, only gone bad. Now this story gets even better so hold on to your seat (sorry had to do it).
This year the Tucson City Council budgeted $798,000 for water conservation rebates. The money also goes toward a toilet-replacement program for low-income residents and rebates for people who want to upgrade their irrigation systems so they use less water.
• Only high-efficiency toilet fixtures approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency WaterSense program qualify for the rebate. The fixture must replace a toilet that was made before 1991 and uses 3.5 gallons per flush. • Toilets must be installed on properties receiving water from Tucson Water.• For residential customers, the rebate amount is limited to 50 percent of the purchase price with a maximum of $120 per toilet.• Old toilet fixtures must not be reused and must be rendered inoperable.• Participants in the rebate program must consent to an inspection of the property to verify purchase. • Fixtures replaced as part of a general construction permit, such as a house remodeling, do not qualify for the rebate.
Bob writes: Didn’t we just get hit with an increase in water rates because we were successfully conserving water? Can we now expect to get slammed with a sewer rate increase because we aren’t flushing enough to supply Pima County Wastewater with sufficient supply?
Steven writes: If that is the result, I propose flushing several (3 at least) city council members to make up for the reduced sewage!!!
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