TIERRA VERDE, Fla. — Old toilets are now being used to help clean the water in Tampa Bay! It's a unique pilot program that's brought two local agencies together with the same goal of protecting the environment.
Tampa Bay Water has a program that encourages and even helps people conserve water. One of the ways the organization does that is by providing rebates for folks who get rid of their water-guzzling, old toilet and replace it with a high-efficiency one. But then, that old toilet winds up in a landfill, which is another problem altogether.
Recently, Amelia Brown, who works for Tampa Bay Water came up with a great idea.
"We approached Tampa Bay Watch to see if they'd be interested in using some crushed-up porcelain from old toilets to mix it into their concrete mixture, put it in the mold, and set it out in the water," Brown said. "And to our delight, they were excited to try this pilot program."
Eric Plage with Tampa Bay Watch says the old toilets became part of an artificial reef ball.
"An artificial reef ball is basically a half dome 150-200 pound piece of concrete with a hollow center and a lot of holes punched into the side in order to promote not only protection from wave action but grow oysters on those sides as well and allow kind of a honeycomb effect for fish and other animals to swim through," Plage said.
Brown explained why oysters are important. "Oysters are incredible for the environment. They help to clean the natural waterways."
But putting the reef balls together is no easy task, which is why Tampa Bay Watch regularly brings in volunteers to help. It's something Plage says they hope to keep doing.
"The oyster reef balls that have porcelain in them from the recycled toilets are doing well. They have barnacles, small oysters rooting to them just as we expected they would and the goal is in the future to continue to make these recycled toilet reef balls to have that be a percentage of the ones we're placing out in the bay."