Understanding manufacturer Caroma's focus on intelligent use of water requires delving a bit into the mechanics of flushing. I, personally, have never thought much about the actual quantities of H2O that go down the drain with every easy flip of the handle, but perhaps we all should. As it turns out, the answer depends on the particularl lineage of your infrastructure. Toilets made before 1992 require somewhere between five and seven gallons per flush, while those made after '92 float in at around 2 gallons per-a figure that, coupled with separate usages for bathroom sink water, still gives individuals in the industrialized world a rather formidable price tag for water usage.

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My own personal debt, calculated via the on-line United States Geological Society "Water Science" feature, is a surprisingly high 110 gallons. The figure is just an estimate (and I don't run the water while brushing my teeth), but it gives some sense of how much water we each use on a daily basis, thus making products like Caroma's Profile Smart increasingly necessary.

These dual-flush high-efficiency toilets with integrated sink offer full and half flush options, requiring 1.28 and .8 gallons of water respectively. The comparatively small figures-paired with the conservation of the integrated sink-result in tremendous yearly savings per household. The unit has an automated function that directs fresh, cold water for hand-washing through the tap with each flush, thus encouraging good hygiene while loading the bowl with used water for the next bathroom visit.

Profile Smart also boasts an over-sized trapway to minimize-if not eliminate entirely-overflows and blockages. The design is so smart and simple that it's become the cause of multiple accolades: Caroma received the Green Plumber's Water efficient Product of the year and Best Overall Product awards, as well as Popular Mechanics' Product Breakthrough award-each laurel a testament to the truth and the bottom line of Profile Smart's conservation ethos: "Caroma's dual flush toilets save millions of gallons of water every year."