Low flush toilet
Encyclopedia
A low flush or low flow toilet is a flush toilet
Flush toilet
A flush toilet is a toilet that disposes of human waste by using water to flush it through a drainpipe to another location. Flushing mechanisms are found more often on western toilets , but many squat toilets also are made for automated flushing...

 that uses significantly less water than a full flush toilet. Most low flush toilets use 6 liters, or 1.6 gallons per flush as opposed to the usual 13.2 liters, or about 3.5 gallons. They came into use in the United States in the 1990s, citing water conservation
Water conservation
Water conservation refers to reducing the usage of water and recycling of waste water for different purposes such as cleaning, manufacturing, and agricultural irrigation.- Water conservation :Water conservation can be defined as:...

 concerns. Many dual flush toilets have a 6 litre and a lower flush.

In 1992 President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...

 signed the Energy Policy Act
Energy Policy Act of 1992
The Energy Policy Act is a United States government act.It was passed by Congress and addressed energy efficiency, energy conservation and energy management , natural gas imports and exports , alternative fuels and requiring certain fleets to acquire alternative fuel vehicles, which are capable of...

. This law made 1.6 gallons per flush toilets standard. This law went into effect in Jan 1, 1994 for residential buildings and Jan 1, 1997 for commercial building where it can't consume more than 1.6 gallons per flush. At first many people were very skeptical about the low flow toilets claiming they had to flush the toilets twice to achieve their desired task. Joe Knollenberg
Joe Knollenberg
Joseph "Joe" Knollenberg is a politician from the U.S. state of Michigan. From 1993 to 2009, he was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing ....

, a Congressman from Michigan tried to repeal the law but was unsuccessful. The performance of some low flow toilets has significantly improved since 1994. Research has shown that low flow toilets can save a family of 4 more than 22,000 gallons of water yearly.

Problems

In 2011, the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...

 reported that, while low-flow toilets are estimated to have saved the city of San Francisco 20 million gallons of water per year, the reduction in water volume has caused waste sludge to back up in the city sewer pipes. The city is attempting to solve this by adding chlorine bleach
Bleach
Bleach refers to a number of chemicals that remove color, whiten, or disinfect, often via oxidation. Common chemical bleaches include household chlorine bleach , lye, oxygen bleach , and bleaching powder...

to the pipes, a proposal that has raised environmental objections.
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