CU toilet handles now go both ways

By Jefferson Dodge

There used to be a saying about how to save water when it comes to toilets.
If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.

Well, the University of Colorado has put a new twist on that theme, installing flush mechanisms on hundreds of its toilets to save water and money. And while they don’t require you to let anything mellow, they still call for flushing down when it’s brown.
The new toilet handles are dual-flush, meaning that you push the lever up when you go number one, and push them down for number two. The “up” flush uses significantly less water than the “down” flush.
The levers are painted green, and they have stickers and/or signs posted prominently to inform users how they work.

Moe Tabrizi, campus conservation officer, says that CU’s facilities management department has installed about 890 of the new fixtures over the past nine months, meaning that approximately 90 percent of the campus’s state-funded buildings now have the dual-flush mechanisms. The rest should be done by the end of the summer.

“Our folks have done an amazing job,” Tabrizi says of the effort, noting that workers tried to do the installations during off-hours, like in the early mornings before students head to class, to limit disruptions.

He expects the campus to save 4 million to 5 million gallons of water each year thanks to the levers. That adds up to annual savings of $20,000 to $25,000, he says.

Given that the project has cost CU about $40,000 so far, the savings erase the up-front expense fairly quickly.

“It’s pretty fast payback,” he says.

In addition, the university received a $5,000 grant from the city of Boulder’s water department to help defray the cost of the project.

Tabrizi says the effort is one of many conservation measures that CU is pursuing. He notes that Gov. Bill Ritter issued an executive order a couple of years ago directing state agencies to reduce waste and energy use. The order sets different goals for percentage reductions, and for water conservation, the directive is to reduce water use 10 percent by 2012, Tabrizi says.

To address the executive order, he explains, the campus formed “sustainable action teams” of faculty, staff and students for the different categories of conservation. One of those teams is focused on the goal of cutting water use by 10 percent, which at the CU campus represents a reduction of about 30 million gallons a year.

According to Tabrizi, the dual-flush mechanism installed on campus toilets will account for only about 15 percent of that 30 million gallons.

He says the team is exploring other ways to save water, including water conservation in research labs and water reuse.

The new dual-flush handles weren’t added in CU’s residence halls, which are self-funded, because toilets in those buildings saw upgrades within the past couple of years.

The new toilet handles are one of the most visible conservation efforts on campus right now, Tabrizi says — simply because everyone goes to the bathroom.

And, in lean budget times, it’s not just about conserving a precious natural resource, it’s about not flushing money down the drain.

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