STOCKTON - Your toilet probably swallows more water than any other household appliance.

And unlike the dishwasher, you just can't get by without it.

A new state law, however, requires superlow-flow toilets to be made available over the next seven years. A toilet like this could, over the course of one person's 140,000-flush lifetime, save enough water to fill a dozen swimming pools.

California Water Service Co. will give 500 of these cutting-edge toilets to its central and south Stockton customers on Saturday.

This is the third year that toilets have been dished out. In past events, the line of cars has stretched a block or longer.

"There's a huge amount of interest," said Henry Wind, Cal Water's district manager. "Water is a sustainable resource, and we have to be careful how we use it."

Many older homes feature 1980s-era toilets that gulp down 3 to 7 gallons per flush. Federal law requires new toilets not exceed 1.6 gallons per flush.

California's law drops the number even further, to 1.28 gallons - pretty much the "nitty-gritty" minimum, a spokeswoman for the Plumbing Manufacturers Institute said.

Some wonder if that's enough water to take care of business, so to speak. But at least some Stockton-area professionals seem to think the new toilets function just fine.

"They have low-flow toilets that will flush golf balls. Seriously," said Yvonne Casity, owner of Casity & Sons Plumbing in Stockton.

Cal Water and city of Stockton officials said low flows won't delay waste on its journey to the sewage treatment plant.

Water-saving toilets often cost $200 or more. While Saturday's toilets are free, Cal Water customers pay for this conservation program and others through their regular rates, Wind said.

In addition to using less water, modern toilets also reduce the energy needed for the wastewater delivery and treatment processes.

And then there are the savings on your water bill. A family replacing a 3.5-gallon toilet with a low-flush toilet could save $90 each year, the Environmental Protection Agency says. Cal Water, however, says a family's true savings depends on many factors.

Stockton's Dolores Chiribel, who got a free Cal Water toilet in 2005, said she's had no problems with it, "thank God."

"A lot of people told me toilet paper would get caught in it, and I've got a lot of kids," she said.

In addition, Chiribel reports modest savings in her monthly water bill - enough to buy some more toilet paper, at least.

Contact reporter Alex Breitler at (209) 546-8295 or abreitler@recordnet.com.

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