LZHS used 3,658,600 gallons of water last school year. But with dual-flush handles on the toilets, they could save thousands of gallons of water, and thousands of dollars.

Lyle Erstad, head of facilities and grounds in District 95, said that he would be interested in implementing the handles. The biggest part of making that decision is the cost. 

“We not only try to save money in the construction process but we want to look for efficient means to be able to save money long term,” Erstad said.

Sloan Valve is a company that makes such handles. District 95 already uses a lot of Sloan products, according to Erstad.

Sloan conducted a study at Purdue University on the dual-flush handles, and the water usage went down up to 50% in some buildings. This saved the university so much money that the handles essentially paid for themselves in less than a year.

“We try to find the best dollar saving, water saving components that we can,” Erstad said. “So we look for low flow faucets. In the kitchen where they’re washing dishes, and they have to spray everything down etc., we have low flow sprayers. So in a number of areas we try to find as many ways as we can to save gallons of water, and also dollars.”