Chris Puglia
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Sep 23/02) - Stop flushing your money away.

Did you know that the most widely used appliance in your home is the toilet? On average, a household toilet is flushed five times per day.

Sandra Elliott, owner of Fibre Glass North in Yellowknife, displays one of the dual-flush, water-saving toilets her company sells. - Chris Puglia/NNSL photo

With the traditional 13-litre toilet that can account for 65 litres of water a day. But there is a toilet that can save you money and water.

The Caravelle270 Toilette, which uses less waste than the traditional toilet, is an innovation out of Australia.

Manufactured by Caroma, which has been making toilets since 1832, the company is well-known for its innovations in energy savings.

The toilet uses a six- or three-litre flushing system combined with a four-inch trap (instead of the usual two inches), which saves water and prevents plugs.

Yellowknife company Fibreglass North is a local supplier of the toilets, which have been growing in popularity.

According to owner Sandra Elliott, there are 1,100 of the Caravelle270 toilets in Yellowknife.

She said the popularity of the toilets is obvious and they have a proven track record.

"We've been wasting water for years, flushing our money away, it makes sense," she said.

Evidence of the toilet's success comes out of the Nats'ejee K'eh alcohol and treatment centre in Hay River.

In March of 2002, the centre installed these toilets throughout the facility in an effort to conserve water.

Since March, the centre's average monthly water consumption has dropped to 148,770.8 litres from 215,008.66 litres -- a difference of more than 66,000 litres per month.

Elliott said the Australian government implemented these systems on a national level and in doing so reduced water consumption by 38 per cent.

"It's proven they work," said Elliott.