Purdue’s Dual-Flush Numbers Show Dramatic Water Drop

Talk all you want about how well aproduct works, but there’s nothinglike cold, hard data to prove a pointand make someone a believer. WhenMichael Carson, senior mechanicalengineer at Purdue University, firstheard about UPPERCUT dual-flushflushometers (from Sloan Valve Co.),he was skeptical.“We were curious as to whetherit would make a difference,” Carsonremembers thinking when he and hisco-horts were offered a chance to testdual-flush flushometers at Purdue’smain campus in West Lafayette, IN.Purdue initially decided to retrofitthe women’s restrooms in two of itsadministrative buildings with a totalof 12 new dual-flushhandles. Carson and his engineeringteam chose the printing services andtelecommunications buildings becauseboth have good historical water-useinformation, restroom plumbing fixturesare the buildings’ only majorwater source and women comprise ahigh proportion of the populations.Purdue installed the dual-flush handlesin the women’s restrooms in thesetwo buildings in July 2005. Carson andhis team have closely examined themonthly water-use data from the buildings’water meters, and the figures tellan interesting before-and-after story.In the printing services building,water use dropped from an average of10,228 gallons a month from July 2004to June 2005 (before the change) to5,803 gallons a month from July 2006to June 2007 (after installation).That equates to about a 43%decrease in water usage.In the telecommunications building,water use dropped from about12,229 gallons a month (July 2004-June 2005) to 8,622 gallons (July2006-June 2007) for a total mediandecrease of nearly 30%. Some singlemonth-to-month comparisons yielda drop of almost 50%.Carson solely attributes thesedecreases to the new dual-flush handles,because no other water usage or fixtureschanged inthe period studied. “The numbersare straight water meter readings,” hesays. “We saw no other cause for thewater use to drop.”
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Dual Flush Vavle please visit www.airdelights.com
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