When I visited some friends at Princeton University last winter, I noticed that they too have been going green on their campus with recycling bins and florescent lighting. What caught me off guard was that this green movement had made it to the restrooms. When I first saw the green handles, I thought it was some kind of a prank or a "be green reminder" of some sorts. After reading the instructions I learned that these and many other toilets on campus were duel flushing.

Move the handle up to flush liquid waste, move the handle down to flush solid waste. I later on looked up an old Princeton University newspaper article and found out that normally 1.6 gallons of water are used per flush, but with this new green handle, only 1.1 gallons will be used when pushed up. Push down and 1.6 gallons will still be used. The University has reported that with over 1,400 of these new duel flush toilets, they use 63 million fewer gallons of water per year.

What has HWS done for water conservation?

The full article can be read here.