Ottawa to pull plug on toilet-rebate program
Last Updated: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 | 9:29 AM ET
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A popular program that gave Ottawa homeowners a chance to replace their toilets with more water-efficient models may be going down the drain.
The Ottawa city council planning and environment committee is meeting next Tuesday to discuss changes to the city's water efficiency plan, including terminating the toilet-rebate program.
The city issued nearly 5,000 rebates last year of up to $75 per homeowner to install the water-efficient toilets, at a total cost of $330,000.
When the city adopted the plan to offer the rebates in 2006, it expected to issue about 1,400 annually. But the program was far more popular than expected, and the city issued 2,328 rebates in 2008 and 4,909 in 2009. City council had to approve an additional $260,000 in December 2009 to process the remaining applications and continue the program into this year.
So far in 2010, the program has received an average of 42 applications per day. With an expected surge of applicants as the deadline approaches, the new plan has budgeted for about 6,600 rebates to be issued before the June 30 deadline at a cost to the city of $450,000.
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