New innovations to save water with every flush!
Bayside High School in Queens is one of two public schools (along with Hillcrest High) in New York City that are part of a pilot program to change out old water-wasting toilets with new low-flow toilets. This pilot program is a great way to for the Department of Environmental Protection to gauge how long the replacement of all existing toilets within these schools will take. The new toilets being used reduce the normal 3.5 to 4.5 gallons used to a much lower 1.2 gallons of water for each flush. This is due to the design of the toilet bowl which allows for more efficient emptying and flushing with much less water.
New York DEP
This program is part of the Department of Environmental Protection’s plan to prepare for the closure of the Delaware Aqueduct in 2020 for much needed repairs. The goal of this program is to within five years to have switched out around 40,000 toilets in 500 schools with toilets that have new technology and the ability to cut water consumption by about 70 percent and 4 million gallons every day.
Their overall goal is to reduce the city’s total water consumption by 5 percent by 2018. The 500 schools in the plan represent 30 percent of the city’s total and the project will cost an estimated $31 million to complete.
water droplet
While this is a considerable way to reduce the amount of water used New York City is taking actions such as adding capacity to the Catskill Aqueduct and looking for wells in cities including Queens. This whole project is to ensure that New York doesn’t have to buy pricey water from other states such as New Jersey.
Article written by Ashley. When she isn’t writing she can be found reading at the beach or taking photographs.