Hey guys, welcome back!! Today is the third post of our monthly series where we show before and after pictures and a few stories behind our installations. Today we are changing it up a bit and instead of just featuring pictures, we are going back to when the drought wasn’t so predominant in the media and telling you how Watt Plaza initiated a sustainable change within office buildings in Los Angeles. Let’s get right to it shall we?

Back in the summer of 2007, the city of Los Angeles started a conversation surrounding water. Local residents initiated water cuts and were on board with Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s conservation goals. Local water agents such as the LADWP encouraged water savings by providing rebates – this was when Watt Plaza made the decision to retrofit their bathrooms with waterfree urinals and led the way to create a more sustainable Los Angeles.

Using the rebates available they were the first class A office building in the city to retrofit a total of 88 waterfree urinals!

The interesting thing about this story is that up to 2007, it was not possible to install waterfree urinals in high-rises and large venue buildings. However under the direction of Mayor Villaraigosa, the Department of Building and Safety amended the building code to finally allow for water saving fixtures to be installed in locations such as the Watt Plaza, the Staples Center, Hollywood Bowl, and Dodger Stadium.

What a great initiative indeed! Since the first Falcon Waterfree urinal was installed, our products have saved an estimated 20+ BILLION gallons (75+ BILLION liters) of fresh water from being flushed down the drain! Imagine what we could accomplish together if the City of Los Angeles used the LADWP rebates?

Until next time.