Toilet Rebate Program Renewed for 2017

posted January 24, 2017 – 9:21am

Madison Water Utility is continuing its popular Toilet Rebate Program for another year. MWU has set aside $250,000 to help fund the replacement of 2,500 old toilets in 2017. It’s all part of a continued focus on conservation, sustainability and efficiency that has helped the city’s annual water use drop below 10 billion gallons for two years in a row.

Since 2009, the Toilet Rebate Program has helped Madisonians replace more than 14,000 water-wasting toilets with EPA-rated high efficiency models. The utility estimates more than a half-billion gallons of water and $2.6 million in water and sewer costs have been saved because of the program. It’s also saved enough energy to power 130 Madison homes for a year. All Madison Water Utility customers—including businesses, schools, restaurants and hotels—are eligible to get a $100 bill credit for replacing an old toilet.

In recent years, water use has been on the decline in Madison. In 2015, annual water use dropped below 10 billion gallons for the first time since 1968. Madison Water Utility officials hope the continuation of the Toilet Rebate Program, coupled with the utility’s online water use tracker that gives customers access to their detailed water usage data, will help continue the trend of declining water use in Madison and protect the artesian aquifer that serves the city for generations to come.