Earlier this week, the California Energy Commission, under the authority of the Governor’s Executive Order, voted unanimously to adopt emergency drought regulations requiring toilets, faucets, and urinals sold after January 1, 2016 to use less water. The energy efficiency and water standards approved this week require water appliances to consume less water thereby using less energy.
The details for each appliance are as follows:
- Toilets and urinals, except those designed for prisons or mental health facilities, shall not consume more than 1.28 gallons per flush, and shall have a waste extraction score of no fewer than 350 grams. Urinals shall not consume more than 0.125 gallons per flush.
- Residential lavatory faucets shall not exceed 1.2 gallons per minute flow rate.
- Kitchen faucets shall not exceed 1.8 gallons per minute flow rate, and may have capability to increase to 2.2 gallons per minute momentarily for filling pots and pans.
- Public lavatory faucets shall not exceed 0.5 gallon per minute flow rate.
The adopted Proposed Amendments to the Appliance Efficiency Regulations can be accessed here.