Free Toilet Program Does Your City Offer Low-Flow Toilets—Free?

A number of our friends and coworkers have been raving about their new toilets, which seems like a funny thing to go on about. But not if you know about the great deal going on in Austin. Not only were they free (a gift from the city), but they're high-performance HETs: High Efficiency Toilets. Now, we like anything free as much as the next person—but a free low-flow toilet sounds...awesome. And you know we're doing everything we can to green our bathroom! Jump below for more on this program that's turning the city green, flush by flush (um, Earth-friendly-green, that is).

Thanks to Austin's progressive leadership, free low-flow toilets are all the rage. The idea is to replace up to three toilets in every household with water-efficient ones. The only parameters? Homeowners must get their water from the City of Austin, or eligible Municipal Utility Districts, and the toilets being replaced were installed prior to 1996. Austinites who qualify simply fill out a form, take it in, and pick up their potties.

They can be installed as a DIY project (one friend tried it that way and had the second one installed, wisely), or a $60 installation credit—per toilet—can be used. There are even rebates if you decide to shop for your own low-flow that matches your style. So if you live in Austin, jump on this—tomorrow (they happen to be closed today)!

The city also offers rebates on water-efficient washers, rainwater barrels, and irrigation systems.

We love the idea of a city stepping up and starting the low-flow revolution. So we're wondering, does your city offer something similar? And have you participated?

Photo via sxc.hu

We had our free toilet (from the city of Austin) installed about a couple of months ago. The city won't install it for you but they will give you a $60 rebate for professional installation.

For the most part, we like the new toilet. But, we haven't seen any big changes in our bill/usage. It definitely takes some time to get the timing of the flushing down. Early on, we had to flush multiple times to get everything out. (Kind of defeats the purpose doesn't it?) Once you get the hang of it one flush will do for most everything :)

posted by prettybirdpress on October 15th 2008 at 9:12am
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That is so cool to hear that Austin is taking the green initiative! I live in the Bay Area and would love to see something like that happen!

posted by Christina @ 2230H on October 19th 2008 at 10:46am
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