The National Energy Policy Act of 1992 took effect in 1994 for residential toilets and in 1997 for commercial toilets requiring all toilets made or sold in this country meet federal water conservation requirements. Prior to this policy act, toilets flushed with three and one-half to five gallons of water. The act mandated toilets only use 1.6 gallons of water per flush. To accommodate this change, low flow toilets were developed. Because of the change in design and water flow, these toilets are designed for the disposal of only liquid, fecal waste and toilet paper.
Homeowners occasionally use the toilet as an additional wastebasket.
The new low flow toilets cannot handle large amounts of waste items. When low flow toilets were first developed, there were problems with totally flushing out the bowl. Many times, two flushes were required to clean the toilet bowl of waste. The new low flow toilets have been redesigned to flush better. The narrower throat gives the water the velocity it needs to better empty the bowl.