Deciding whether a high-efficiency toilet is worth the investment or not requires some research. Fortunately, there is plenty of information easily available. Manufacturers of toilets make their claims, with figures to back them, and the government also provides information. You decide which party you want to believe.
The government, through the Environmental Protection Agency, has a program called WaterSense. They not only provide information to the consumer but have a program for labeling by manufacturers, insuring that the purchaser is getting a water-saving toilet. The figures you will see quoted in various articles on the internet are often the ones provided by the EPA WaterSense program. They are impressive, so we had just as well look at them briefly here, as well.
It is estimated that each of us will flush a toilet about 140,000 times in our life. Replacing old-style toilets with high-efficiency toilets would mean that a person could save 4,000 gallons per year. The EPA estimates that replacing all of the older, inefficient toilets in America with new high-efficiency toilets would save about 640 billion gallons of water each year. That is more than two weeks worth of the flow of water over Niagara Falls. There is a considerable savings of water to be made, no doubt. From a strictly water-saving viewpoint, the use of high-efficiency toilets is certainly valuable.
When it comes to the dollar value of water usage, there is a considerable savings there as well. The price of water of course varies with your location. But the EPA estimates that a family of four could save more than $90 per year on their water bill, which would equate to about $2,000 over the life of the toilets. There are also rebates available in many areas that might add significantly to the savings.
Of course low water use toilets are not really efficient unless they are effective in doing their job, which is removing waste by flushing. Fortunately, modern high-efficiency toilets are highly effective in that way. They are very much better than early attempts at this function. There are other options as well, including pressure assisted systems and dual flush models. The dual flush toilets can be very saving of water, using less than a gallon when only a minimal flushing action is required.
So is a high-efficiency toilet worth the investment? Yes, it is, if you only consider the water saving virtue of the device, with the reduced impact on the environment and the brighter water future we will leave for our children. If you insist on considering only the dollar value in calculating worth of the investment, the answer depends on the cost of water in your area and the cost of the fixtures and installation required. Modern high-efficiency toilets are designed for use with modern plumbing set-ups, so older installations may require upgrading the pipes as well. The cost may be considerable. If you decide to use the EPA figure of $2,000 savings, then anything over that in cost will need to be carefully considered. You decide. But for all our sakes and the future of our species on this planet, try to make the upgrade choice if at all possible. The high-efficiency toilet can be a great way to save both water and money.