Have you been thinking about taking part in Thornton’s water-efficiency rebate programs?

Here are some water-saving facts that could help make up your mind.

Water savings you can start now

Is your toilet the original toilet that was installed when your home was built? Could it be more than 10 -15 years old?  If so, it might be time for an efficiency upgrade. The city offers a $75 rebate credit to replace your older toilet with a new EPA WaterSense certified toilet.

EPA WaterSense toilets use 1.28 gallons per flush or less. Assuming five flushes per day, these efficient toilets only use an average of 2,336 gallons per year. Older toilets made before 1985 use up to 7 gallons per flush, an average of 12,775 per year. Toilets made after 1985 use 3.5 gallons per flush, an average of 6,388 a year.  Changing out just one toilet, could save 10,000 to 20,000 gallons of water a year.

Since 2009, Thornton residents have replaced 3,716 water-wasting toilets with 1.28 gallons per flush or less toilets, saving more than 8.5 million gallons – that’s enough to fill 13 Olympic swimming pools.  With all the toilet options on the market today, many different toilets offer even more water savings, like the ultra-efficient toilets that use 0.8 gallons per flush.

Planning for next year

Did you know that your outdoor irrigation can account for 50 -75% of your summer usage? The average household uses more water outdoors than for showering and washing clothes combined.

With today’s technology, there is no reason you should have to choose between a beautiful lawn and efficient water use. By installing a WaterSense certified smart irrigation controller, that connects to a local weather station you can set your controller to automatically adjust based on local temperature and precipitation. Most smart controllers can be programmed with your smart phone and will even notify you when your system has watered.  Installation is easy and most smart controllers will walk you through setting up your location, landscape size, soil and the type of zones you are watering.

Thornton has offered the irrigation controller rebate since 2012 and has rebated 1,575 irrigation controllers. On average, residents who have participated in the rebate program have saved over 1,000 gallons a month during the summer. A total of almost 9 million gallons of water have been saved with these new irrigation controllers being installed.

Our newest rebate is the Water-Wise Landscape Rebate.  Thornton residents who want to replace areas of their lawn with a water-wise garden areas with beautiful low-water plants, ornamental grasses, and hardscapes may qualify for this rebate. This year, there were 26 Water-Wise Landscape rebates submitted, converting 11,675 sq. ft. of grass to beautiful Water-Wise landscapes. Each rebate participate has the potential to save 10,000 gallons or more of water each year, once their Water-Wise garden is established. Water-wise plants take two to three years to become established.

Visit our website for more information on ways to save water and our 2021 programs.