Water-saving toilets, shower heads installed at thousands of Newport Beach apartments

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. (KABC) -- Friday was moving day for dozens of toilets at a Newport Beach apartment complex.

Irvine Company's Water Conservation Task Force, which owns the Newport North Apartments, is replacing the water-guzzling old toilets with newer, more efficient models. The 3.5-gallon flush toilets originally installed in the apartments are being replaced by ones that use 1.28 gallons.

Crews also put in water-saving shower heads in response to a state mandated water use reduction of 28 percent for Newport Beach. The shower heads that used 2.50 gallons of water per minute are being swapped out with ones that use 1.5 gallons of water per minute.

Crews will retrofit 2,246 units in Newport Beach alone -- that's expected to save 44 million gallons of water in a year.

The Irvine Company plans to install 3,096 of these toilets and shower heads at its six older properties. The work is expected to be completed by next month at a cost of $880,000, according to company spokesman Bill Lobdell.

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