Forty percent of the drinkable water your family uses each month is used in flushing the toilet.

In the 1960s toilets were built to use 5.5 to 7.5 gallons per flush (gpf). In the 1970s environmentally conscious people demanded more efficient toilets and the 3.5 gpf was born. These didn't work all that well. In the 1980s the American National Standards Institute created a 3.5 gpf that worked. In 1994 ANSI convinced the government to require all new toilets to only use 1.6 gpf.

If you do not have a newer toilet, there are still other ways to lower the amount of water used by your toilet.

• Displace water using a half-gallon milk or juice jug. Put some stones in the bottom of it to keep it from floating, fill it with water, and place in your toilet tank.
• Get an early-close flapper. The flapper allows wastes to be removed but does not empty the entire tank on each flush. It is easily installed and can save 30 to 50 percent per flush.
• Check for leaks in the flapper or tank. Leaking water can add up quickly. You can easily test for leaks using leak-detection tablets from your local hardware store. If the water in your bowl turns blue, you have a leak. Fix the leak and while you are in there install an early-close flapper.
• Buy a low-flow toilet. If you are in the market for a new toilet, make sure that it is one that will work for you. Not all low-flow toilets work the same.
• Better yet, get one of the newer toilets that have two buttons, one that uses only 1.1 gallons per flush for liquids and a second button that uses 1.6 gallons for solids.
• If you really want to save water and have males in the house, you could invest in a hideaway urinal that does not use any water. These have an EcoTrap that traps in odors and urine.
• Or you could get a composting toilet that uses no water. It flushes waster into odor-sealed chamber where it is composted into fertilizer. Two to three times a year you empty out the dry fertilizer, where you can apply it directly to your yard or garden. This toilet can save more than 40,000 gallons of water per year.