Why Aren’t Americans Buying More Water-Saving Toilets?

While other countries are flush with water-saving toilets, America is falling behind.

By Alain StephensOctober 5, 2015 8:25 am,

Americans love options and we love the ability to pick and choose and upgrade. That love goes from large, like cars and homes – to small, like your pizza order. However, when it comes to toilets, you’re still probably using the standard issue: pearly white, with one lever?

That old toilet is literally flushing away gallons of good water and the rest of the world is leaving us behind. Kyrie O’Connor, a writer for the Houston Chronicle, says she was on vacation and noticed many countries in Europe were using a more water-efficient toilet than ones she would find stateside.

O’Connor says the dual flush toilets aren’t much more expensive and many hardware stores in the States sell at-home conversion kits.

“[It’s] really nothing that would prevent any regular American from buying them,” she says. “It’s kind of like the metric system. We just haven’t done it.”

She says every major manufacturer makes efficient toilets, but they’re not as prevalent because “no one’s buying them.” 

“I think a lot of people don’t even know, or they’re suspicious of it,” O’Connor says. “It makes a lot of common sense for Texas but it just hasn’t happened.”