Toilet flows are not the cause of sanitary sewer overflows, nor are they the cause of overcapacity flows in general. They are a small part of the daily sewage flow. The biggest element is laundry water and bath water. Average design flow for a residence in the US is 100 gallons per capita day. An old style (good) toilet delivers maybe 2-1/2 gallons per flush. You can do the arithmetic based on how often you flush the dang thing. A low flow toilet delivers 1.6 gallons of water per flush. You can make a pretty good guestimate on how much your household or neighborhood is saving.

Seattle’s wastewater treatment system treats an Average Dry Weather Flow (ADWF) of about 200 million gallons per day (MGD), and has a peak wet weather capacity of about 800 MGD.

That having been said, I have not experienced any particular problem with low-flow toilets. Others have, particularly with the early toilets. The dual flush design, which I don’t believe is legal, is better though, having a low flush for pee and a conventional sized flush for feces.

I believe it is San Francisco that has started to have problems with solids deposition in sewers that has been attributed to low flow toilets. Maybe that’s because all the Hippies don’t wash. They have proposed a bunch of solutions including flushing with water, and chemical treatment of the sewer lines. All are expensive and problemmatic. I expect that low flow toilets have also done a bit to raise the cost of sewage treatment, as they raise the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of the sewage. I don’t know how significant that is, but I would expect aeration costs to increase. It would be a hard number to estimate accutately.

There are a few areas in the US where there is sufficient shortage of water to make such conservation measures , but not many. In those areas, there are usually more remunerative ways to save water. Banning the watering of lawns would be one.

And that’s why I don’t find it charming to hear stories about people wasting clean, feces-free, treated water – because as a young person, I’M GOING TO HAVE TO PAY TO REPLACE THE WATER YOU WASTED.

Um, no. Water here is free. There is no city water. There is no city sewage either. There is no shortage of water.

Why should I have to pay more for an inferior toilet when it has zero impact on other people’s water and sewage?

“The average capacity for wet weather flow is 133 million gallons per day. The maximum capacity is 440 million gallons per day during peak storms.”
http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/About/System/West/Process.aspx

This is but one plant serving the Seattle region. Another is the South plant. They combine to serve 1.5 million people and 420 square miles.

http://www.kingcounty.gov/environment/wtd/About/System/South/Process.aspx
“The average capacity for wet weather flow is 115 million gallons per day. The maximum capacity is 325 million gallons per day during peak storms.”

So, those two plants have a combined capacity of 440+325 = 765 million gallons per day while serving 1.5 million people.

In any event, the primary point I’ve made is the same: knocking a couple of gallons off a flush is chump change / in the noise compared to other (storm) flows. 10 flushes a day (WAY more than folks would really use, don’t you think?) @ 2 gallons each saved by these crappy toilets x 1.5 million people in the Seattle region = 30 million gallons a day savings, MAX, on a capacity of 765 million gallons a day on the two existing main plants (Brightwater isn’t on line, yet). That’s well under 10% of the capacity, even given generous assumptions and before the new plant comes on line later this year or early next. ITS NOISE.

This toilets are just another example of how environmental nannies want to micromanage other peoples lives under the guise of saving the planet, when in reality, they’re doing diddly squat.

Also, and I think this will be a big problem if gray water usage becomes common, it takes a certain flow of water to get various solids to go down the pipe in the street. Especially if it doesn’t maintain an even slope, maybe has a low spot due to earth movements.

You really shouldn’t call Liz ignorant.
From Wikipedia:
Storm drains are separate and distinct from sanitary sewer systems. The separation of storm sewers from sanitary sewers helps to prevent sewage treatment plants becoming overwhelmed by Infiltration/Inflow during a rainstorm, which can result in untreated sewage being discharged into the environment.

Many storm drainage systems are designed to drain the storm water, untreated, into rivers or streams. Special care must be taken to ensure the citizenry is aware of this, lest waste be dumped into the storm drain system. In the city of Cleveland, Ohio, for example, all new catch basins installed have inscriptions on them not to dump any waste, and usually include a fish imprint as well. Trout Unlimited Canada recommends[5] that a yellow fish symbol be painted next to existing storm drains.

One button for when you only need a little flush, and one button for when you need a strong flush. Low flush toilet lovers will be happy, high flush toilet lovers will be happy.

Can’t we all just get along?!

I note how you conveniently over look the fact that flushing the can is a TRIVIAL amount of the load in a sewage system. Just because you can read the Old Grey Lady, doesn’t mean you can think through engineering problems. You still seem to not get “in the noise”.

What part of 48,000 gallons per hours from the can versus 4.34 MILLION gallons per hour from a modest rain storm don’t you get?

You also show your ignorance about basic economics, to wit: “because as a young person, I’M GOING TO HAVE TO PAY TO REPLACE THE WATER YOU WASTED.”

Quit it…you’re killing me (wiping back tears of laughter).

Actually, I and every other user of water pays for all the water I or they “waste”. Let’s start off with kindergarten bill paying. See, it’s called a water meter. You may be unfamiliar with the concept. The more you use, the more you pay. In sanely run municipal sewage systems, they also increase the sewer bill based on the water you consume, knowing that a direct proportion goes down the drain, be it from the sink, shower or sh***er. Now in my case, I’m on a septic system, so I don’t pay a sewer bill (I take care of it myself – see, I don’t need a big socialist program to not pollute). I pay for my “sewage treatment” when I have to have the tank pumped and drain field inspected & maintained every few years or so. But the point is, people DO pay. And the last I checked, I think it was rain and snow being deposited in the watershed that “replaced” the water I’m “wasting”. See, that happens during the time of year called “winter”.

Just quit Liz – you’ve lost.