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Melbourne is in its eleventh year of a successful toilet retrofit rebate
program. A $50 rebate
is provided to Melbourne residential water customers who retrofit their old, high water
using toilets to new 1.6 gallon ultra-low flush toilets.
During the first year of the
program, $2,500 was budgeted for the program, but, even with very limited publicity,
demand was so high that an additional $1,089 was provided for the program.
Melbourne's current budget provides $6,000.
The water-saving benefits are far outweighing the cost of the
program. As an example, the average person flushes five times per day. A
typical 1970's model toilet uses five gallons for every flush, which equals 25
gallons per day. With a new 1.6 gallon toilet, those same five flushes
would use eight gallons. For a household of four people, the water savings would
be 68 gallons per day, 2,100 gallons per month or 25,200 gallons per year.
Besides the toilet retrofit rebate program, the City also provides many
other water conserving devices to customers. These include low-flow showerheads and faucet
aerators, displacement devices for toilets that save
almost a gallon per flush, leak detection tablets for toilets, shower flow gauges, and rain
gauges.
These devices are distributed in a number of ways. They are given out at
environmental expos and events, they are provided to new and existing customers at the
City’s Utility Billing Customer Service Desk, and they are also given to customers, including
apartments and condominiums, as well as individual homeowners, who call and request help
with conserving water.
Toilet Retrofit Program
Toilet
Retrofit Application
Frequent Questions |
