President Trump has expressed frustration with low-flow toilets and shower heads, claiming they require multiple flushes and only produce low water flow. He has directed the EPA to review water efficiency standards for these products. However, environmental advocates argue that water conservation standards help ensure adequate long-term water supplies and that the EPA's WaterSense program has already helped save over 3.4 trillion gallons of water. Rolling back these standards could undermine years of water conservation efforts.

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OP-ED
President Trump has declared war on
toilets
BY DWIGHT MERRIAM
While ensuring that an adequate supply of safe, clean and potable water is protected for
future generations might seem to be a goal all Americans could agree on, President Trump
has inexplicably declared war on toilets and other low-flow bathroom fixtures designed to
conserve water.
Jorge Vallez, 22, a plumber with Scott Plumbing, carries a low-flush toilet into an
apartment bathroom at the Newport North complex to replace a less-efficient toilet.
(SCOTT SMELTZER/Daily Pilot )

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It sounds like the set-up for a joke, but it is true. The president of the United States has
become an enemy of the great majority of Americans who recognize that water conservation
is critical to ensuring an adequate long-term supply of clean drinking water.
Here is what the President had to say about low-flow toilets and other devices, from a
transcript provided by the White House:
“We have a situation where we’re looking very strongly at sinks and showers and other
elements of bathrooms where you turn the faucet on — you don’t get any water. They take a
shower and water comes dripping out. It’s dripping out — very quietly dripping out. People
are flushing toilets 10 times, 15 times, as opposed to once. They end up using more water.
So, EPA is looking at that very strongly, at my suggestion.”
Trump’s issue with toilets dates back to the early days of his presidency. Shortly after he
was elected, he convened a business roundtable of chief executive officers and asked them
what regulations they would like to see rolled back. After none of the CEOs brought up the
issue of water efficiency standards, Trump volunteered that he had an interest in the issue
and said he wanted to roll back the legal standards on plumbing fixtures as he thought all
the new toilets and shower heads didn’t work properly.
All was quiet until a week ago, when he had yet another meeting with business executives
and brought up the issue again and advised that he has directed the United States
Environmental Protection Agency to “review the standards,” but no one knows who has
been specifically tasked with that assignment.
Clearly, the standards are established by federal law (1992 Energy Policy Act) and Trump
would have to get Congress to repeal them. It seems virtually impossible that Congress
would do that, but a very real threat to water conservation is that Trump could eviscerate
EPA’s WaterSense discretionary labeling program, which has been instrumental in water
conservation.
According to the EPA, “WaterSense labeled products are backed by independent, third-
party certification and meet EPA’s specifications for water efficiency and performance.
When you use these water-saving products in your home or business, you can expect
exceptional performance, savings on your water bills and assurance that you are saving
water for future generations.”
As of the end of 2018, Watersense has helped save a cumulative 3.4 trillion gallons of water.
Maintaining it and expanding on that base, particularly with state level programs, is
essential.
One saving grace is that the entire plumbing industry has completely retooled their product
lines for WaterSense, so no long-term impact would be deeply felt unless the WaterSense
program was cancelled outright and never reinstated by a future president. Still, it is critical
that everyone with an interest in protecting our precious water resources makes sure that
Trump knows, loud and clear, that there must be no rollback of regulations in this critical
area.

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Six states, with the help of the country’s leading water conservation advocacy organization,
The Alliance for Water Efficiency, have adopted WaterSense standards as their own
plumbing standards: California, Texas, Georgia, Colorado, New York, and Nevada. Those
states are safe from Trump’s meddling. Connecticut is set to join the list, hopefully in the
near future, in connection with the Connecticut Water Plan, adopted by the Connecticut
General Assembly this year.
Dwight Merriam is the president of Rivers Alliance of Connecticut www.riversalliance.org,
past president of the American Institute of Certified Planners and a practicing lawyer.