On February 26, 2008 DeKalb County approved the Inefficient Plumbing Fixtures Replacement Plan. This ordinance calls for any home built prior to 1993 to have low flow toilet & plumbing fixtures installed before the homeowner can obtain water from the county.
The County is now offering a $100.00 rebate on each replaced water efficient toilet, up to a maximum of three toilets per household. For guidelines and more information on the Toilet Retrofit Rebate Program as well as updated outdoor water restrictions and conservation tips, please visit the DeKalb County Department of Watershed Management website at www.dekalbwatershed.com.
Effective June 1, 2008, Sellers will be required to disclose the DeKalb County Ordinance when selling their homes and before the new homeowner can obtain water service, they must provide written proof from a home inspector, licensed plumber or a Department of Watershed Inspector. This certificate will be required with their application for water service. Single family homes & condos will need to have the following:
1. Toilets can have a max 1.6 gallons per flush
2. Shower heads can put out a max 2.5 gallons per minute
3. Lavatory faucets can put out a max 2.0 gallons per minute
4. Kitchen faucets can put out a max 2.2 gallons per minute
Based on average home sales statistics, DeKalb County foresees saving 360,000 gallons of water a day by enacting this ordinance and predict it will take more than 33 years to replace all of the older water guzzling toilets & fixtures.
Now there are some exemptions to this ordinance and they include the following:
1. Foreclosure Sales
2. Family Sales from spouse to spouse or from parents to their children
3. Homes that will be demolished after the sale
4. Circumstances where the cost of the toilet will be over $1,000.00 per toilet to change out
If you violate these new laws, you are subject to the following penalties:
1. 1st violation will be a warning
2. 2nd violation (within 12 months of first violation) will be $250.00
3. 3rd violation (within 12 months of first violation) will be $500.00
4 comments:
Please contact me if you need any help finding a High Efficiency Toilet that is compliant with the Inefficient Plumbing Fixture Replacement plan. We are a distributor for Caroma's Dual Flush toilets that also qualify for the $100 rebate offered by Dekalb County, the City of Atlanta and several other counties. Caroma Toilets average to 0.96 gallons per flush (based on avg of 5 uses a day) and, with a 4" trapway, virtually eliminate blockage. Please visit www.ecotransitions.com or contact me for more details at sales@ecotransitions.com. Best regards, Andrea Paulinelli, ceo
I received a letter from Dekalb as of 11/23/2009 that, due to funding not being available in the rebate account, my application for the rebate for 3 toilets could not be processed.
Jim,
I am very sorry to hear about that. I will contact Dekalb Watershed to find out if the budget has been exhausted. Perhaps they will add more funds, as Cobb County did, for example.
Andrea Paulinelli
Depending on your circumstances you may be surprised at the payback from water savings alone. We replaced all 3 toilets in Dunwoody and 2 of 3 in Athens and in both cases the savings were dramatic. More so in Athens because of much higher rates--we spend less than $5.00 per month in Dunwoody.
You've obviously already made the purchase, but anyone looking to find a "best buy" should check out the California Urban Water Conservation Council who publish test results on High Efficiency Toilets on their Resource Center (see the Products page). It turns out there is no correlation between price and effectiveness.
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