News Release
King County Housing Authority; Cascade Water Alliance, City of Issaquah
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information contact:
Autumn Monahan, City of Issaquah, 425-837-3026, AutumnM@ci.issaquah.wa.us
Rhonda Rosenberg, King County Housing Authority, 206-574-1185, RhondaR@kcha.org
March 2 , 2009
EASTRIDGE HOUSE IN ISSAQUAH TO INSTALL WATER-SAVING FEATURES, THANKS TO LOCAL REBATE PROGRAM
Issaquah, Wash. – With the help of a local partnership, 42 residents in Eastridge
House, a public housing community in Issaquah, are on their way toward reducing utility costs and helping to protect water resources. Through the Cascade Water Alliance’s toilet replacement program, King County Housing Authority (KCHA) will replace 27 old, water-guzzling toilets in its Issaquah Eastridge House with new water efficient toilets, install water-saving faucet aerators and showerheads, and recycle the old toilets. The new toilets use only 1.6 gallons per flush. In total, the upgrades are expected to save the Eastridge House more than 650,000 gallons of water during the next five years.
Located in historic downtown Issaquah, Eastridge House is a 40-unit public housing complex for seniors and persons with disabilities. This project completes the upgrade of all 40 toilets in thisfacility, as 13 toilets have been previously replaced, and brings the entire building up to current residential water code. Installation of these fixtures is an important step in KCHA’s system-wide water conservation initiative, and has resulted in a drop of over 40 percent in water use for its properties since 2003.
The project at Eastridge House is part of a program sponsored by City of Issaquah’s Resource Conservation Office and the Cascade Water Alliance. Through the program, rebates for water-saving appliances and irrigation systems are available to any residence or business served by Cascade Water Alliance, including those in the City of Issaquah. The Eastridge House rebates are one of many that the Cascade Water Alliance has provided to its customers during the last five years.
A consumer who replaces an old toilet with a high efficiency one not only receives a $100 rebate through the Cascade Water Alliance program, but also saves an average of 10,000 gallons of water per year. Qualified multifamily properties, such as Eastridge House, are eligible for free toilets.
“Water conservation is the most cost-effective and environmentally sound way to reduce demand for water,” said Rhonda Rosenberg, communications director for the King County Housing Authority. “By retrofitting apartments to decrease water consumption, we are reducing the amount of stress – both on environmental and financial resources – while simultaneously improving our region’s housing infrastructure and conditions for our tenants.”
“Conservation is a key strategy as we prepare for the impact of climate change in our region, as well as move Issaquah toward a more sustainable future,” said Ava Frisinger, the City of Issaquah’s mayor. “Eastridge House is an excellent example of how we can all make choices that have positive impacts on the environment.”
The Cascade Water Alliance is an association of eight cities and water districts in the Puget Sound region that works together to ensure a clean, safe and reliable water supply for people, the environment and a growing economy.
For more information about the City of Issaquah’s sustainability efforts, contact Autumn Monahan at 425-837-3026.
For more information on rebates or other conservation programs, visit cascadewater.org or contact Mike Brent at 425-453-1810.
For more information on the King County Housing Authority’s conservation efforts, contact Rhonda Rosenberg at 206-574-1185.