By Elizabeth Zach, RCAC staff writer

Although population in the rural and urban American West is increasing, water use has declined because better-designed toilets are conserving water more effectively.

The toilet, according to a National Public Radio report, uses more water than any other home appliance – more than the washing machine, the dishwasher, the shower or the kitchen faucet. The average toilet uses about 33 gallons of water per day. This figure, however, is down from when, in 1999, the average daily use was 45 gallons.

The more efficient plumbing is partly due to the Energy Policy Act, passed by Congress in 1992. The law mandates that toilets flush using at most 1.6 gallons.

Since then, low-flush toilets have become more common and in more recent years, some states with water scarcity problems—like Colorado and California—have passed even tighter regulations on how much water toilets can use.

To read more, go here: https://www.npr.org/2018/09/22/650137845/as-west-grows-water-use-declines-thanks-to-better-toilets?mc_cid=14c4411398&mc_eid=ca994af90e