Low Flow Toilet Tip

A PWS reported a potential issue with some low-flow toilets when there is no water flow during extended school closures

With little to no water usage in the schools, the newer low-flow toilets may be an issue. These toilets use flowmeters which recharge each time the toilet flushes. With the school closed, the toilets have not been used. Most of these toilets have a secondary program where it self-flushes to charge its battery. The issue one school experienced was the flowmeter malfunctioned and was stuck open for roughly nine days at 30 gallons per minute. This was literally 388,800 gallons of water down the drain. You may want to reach out to your schools or other closed buildings and ask the owners/managers if they are not doing so already, to start recording daily meter readings to watch for any large increases in water usage. These increases could be related to this issue.