Did you realize that "peer pressure" was a toilet-related pun?
The title is from an article from Dave Barry on Canadian toilets, back in 1998.
I was searching for information on Canadian toilets, and had trouble finding any because Canada (or at least Ontario) eventually adopted similar regulations:
Just over two years ago, Gary Blucher built a house just north of Toronto. The Ontario building code said he had to use low flow toilets — ones that use no more than 6 litres of water per flush.
"They plug," he complains....
Blucher says he sometimes has to flush two or three times, just to clear the toilet....
In Ontario, low-flow has been part of the building code for the past six years. It's part of the province's efforts to save money by reducing the need for new water filtration plants.
The provincial government says the plan was to cut toilet waste by 25 per cent, but it hasn't quite worked according to plan....
Ontario may be the only province pushing the six-litre standard right now [in 2003], but other provinces are watching closely. The city of Vancouver has jumped on the low-flow bandwagon as well....
Roman Kaszczij runs the city of Toronto's toilet replacement program. He says there are hundreds of CSA-approved six litre toilets on the Canadian market. He hasn't tested all of them — but only 24 meet his standards.
"We did a test a couple of years ago. We just pulled toilets off the shelf and tested them. Over 50 per cent of them did not flush with six litres," Kaszczij said.
Kaszczij needs to know which toilets do work. Toronto offers a $60 - $75 rebate for anyone who will replace a water waster with a low-flow toilet. But there is a catch: you have to buy one of the 24 toilets on Kaszczij's list....
Doug Geralde is a spokesman for the CSA. He admits he's known for years there are problems with some CSA-approved six-litre toilets. But he says the CSA does not write the standard: a committee of experts —including toilet manufacturers— writes the rules.
"The CSA mark only means it complies with the requirements and that’s what we certify to," says Geralde. He says if the standards fall short, the committee of experts will get feedback.
In late January 2003, the committee recommended that the Canadian standard should be replaced with an American one. Of the three toilets the committee tested, all passed the Canadian standard. Only one passed the American test....
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