Water Utility

The Madison Water Utility's popular toilet rebate program funding is exhausted for this year, but the utility will be placing new applicants on a waiting list for next year. In January 2011, the utility will again be sending rebate checks of up to $100 to customers who purchase replacement toilets from the EPA's list of WaterSense-labeled High Efficiency Toilet (HET) models, beginning with the wait list.

The utility began offering the rebates in January 2009 as an incentive for residential customers to replace their older water-guzzling toilets with WaterSense models that use only 1.28 gallons per flush. As of January 1, 2010, apartment owners/tenants who own larger apartment buildings also became eligible for the incentive rebates.

So far, the estimated water savings from this program, system-wide, total more than 10 million gallons, and participating customers have been enjoying smaller water bills.

The rebate program is part of the utility's Water Conservation and Sustainability Plan to reduce per capita water usage 20 percent by the year 2020, with the goal of protecting the quality and quantity of the deep-well aquifer that supplies the Madison area. Toilets are the largest users of water in the home. The EPA's WaterSense plumbing fixture rating program is part of that agency's mission to protect drinking water resources, and it is similar in approach to Energy Star labeling for electric appliances.

To learn more about the Madison Water Utility's toilet rebate program, customers can visit the website at www.cityofmadison.com/water.