Rebates Offered to Save Water : Conservation: L.A. unveils a program to help residents pay the cost of switching to low-flush toilets.

Faced with a continuing statewide drought and diminishing out-of-state water supplies, Los Angeles officials announced a pilot program Tuesday in which the city’s Department of Water and Power will offer $100 rebates to residents who replace older toilets with ultra-low-flush models.

With two of the models on hand as props during a morning news conference, Mayor Tom Bradley kicked off the novel program that encourages Los Angeles residents to replace older, water-guzzling toilets with ones that use only 1.6 gallons of water per flush--a reduction that could save Los Angeles as much as 80 million gallons of water by the time the one-year program ends.

“There is a need for us to develop every means of water conservation that we can,” said Bradley, who was joined by City Council members and representatives of local water agencies.

The placement of low-flush models in homes throughout Los Angeles, Bradley added, “could save a significant amount of water that is otherwise now wasted by being flushed through the system.”

The DWP and Metropolitan Water District have budgeted $750,000 for the pilot program, which seeks to replace 7,500 older toilets--which may use up to seven gallons of water with each push of the lever--with the ultra-low-flush models. Residents of single and multifamily dwellings who participate in the program would be given $100 rebate checks upon verification of installation by DWP officials.

With some of the toilets selling for as little as $50, the rebate check could “defer all or a big portion of the cost of replacing the toilet,” said Rick Caruso, president of the Board of Water and Power, adding that residents could choose to do the installation themselves.

The project is the first such rebate offer made by the DWP in the area of water conservation, according to officials, and it comes at a time when California’s water resources are rapidly diminishing in the midst of a four-year drought.

“This is one of the best means of water conservation available because it’s the machine that does it for you. . . . You don’t have to change your life style,” said Councilwoman Ruth Galanter.

“It’s good for the city because we don’t have to take the water out of Mono Lake,” Galanter continued, referring to the body of water in the Eastern Sierra. And, she added, “We don’t have to purchase it from other resources.”

Besides minimizing water waste, DWP officials said, such conservation efforts can decrease water costs for single-family customers by approximately $19.50 per toilet per year, and reduce pressure on Los Angeles’ overtaxed sewage system--a system that became so burdened with storm overflow this past weekend that a city treatment plant had to divert some of its waste into the ocean to prevent it from flowing into the streets.

State and local officials have taken steps in the past to conserve water that is often flushed away and wasted. A state standard was set in 1983 that required all toilets sold in the state to use only 3.5 gallons of water per flush. The Los Angeles City Council took the action a step further, approving an ordinance in 1988 that required all toilets installed in newly constructed homes or residential additions to use 1.5 gallons per flush.

If the rebate program shows significant water savings for customers, the project could extend indefinitely, Caruso said.