Santa Monica : Toilets, Shower Heads OKd

The City Council has taken the next step in a closely watched pilot water-saving program that it says may lead to stronger conservation efforts throughout Southern California.

Voting 5 to 0 Tuesday, the council appropriated $479,000 to fund a city-sponsored replacement of water-guzzling toilets and shower heads. The city hopes to have ultra-low-flow toilets and shower heads in one-quarter of the city’s households by 1994.

“If other communities follow suit even partially, then much of the problems of Santa Monica Bay . . . will have been solved for years and even decades to come,” said Mayor Dennis Zane, referring to bay pollution caused by overflow sewage from several local communities.

According to the city proposal, the program will cut Santa Monica waste water by about 8%, or 835,200 gallons per day. The plan includes free distribution of 1,000 new ultra-low-flow toilets and shower heads to property owners on a first-come, first-served basis, a $100 rebate for each bathroom retrofitted with the water-saving devices and a $1-a-month surcharge on non-compliers’ water bills beginning April 1, 1990.

The state Department of Fish and Game and the city plan to use the discarded high-flow toilets to build reefs in coastal areas. Already, the city has made permanent many water conservation measures implemented during last year’s drought and has stiffened building requirements to regulate sewage.