City Program Aims To Replace 800K Toilets With More Efficient Models

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City wants to replace thousands of inefficient toilets with more energy-efficient ones.

It's all part of a new plan by the city's Department of Environmental Protection to swap 800,000 residential toilets in an effort to save 30 million gallons of water a day by 2018.

Apartment buildings with a minimum of four units and that were automatically enrolled in DEP's Multi-Family Conservation
Program will be eligible for the first phase of the replacement initiative.

"We think there are about a quarter-million or 250,000 residents units that are eligible for the first phase of our program," DEP Commissioner Carter Strickland told 1010 WINS. "We could save 10 million gallons of water each day city-wide by replacing toilets that use five gallons or more of water with high-efficiency toilets that use a lot less."

Qualified customers will receive a $125 voucher from the DEP to purchase a new, high-efficiency toilet from select vendors.

The old toilets will be recycled for use in green infrastructure projects.

For more details on the program, click here.