SOUTHWEST RIVERSIDE COUNTY - There soon could be a lot less flushing in Temecula school bathrooms.

The Temecula Valley Unified School District is changing the urinals in all of its schools to a waterless variety that is expected to save the district about 1.6 gallons of water each time they are used. Over the course of a year, that could add up to nearly 8 million gallons, according to Gaylon Holland, the district's maintenance and operations director.

The waterless urinals are among the measures school districts in Southwest Riverside County are taking to reduce water use in the face of growing pressure to conserve.

Increasingly, schools are planting drought-resistant plants or watering vegetation with treated wastewater unsuitable for drinking.

The Murrieta Valley Unified School District, for instance, recently installed synthetic turf on athletic fields at its two high schools, Vista Murrieta and Murrieta Valley, spokeswoman Karen Parris said. The district also controls irrigation at its schools from a central computer system that is used to monitor overall water use at remote school sites.

School officials say the efforts to conserve water stem in large part from a sense of responsibility. Holland, for instance, said he regularly tracks the weather, and California's prolonged drought is frequently on his mind.

"I have two children, and I tell them I want to leave them a few trees," he said.

Local schools also have economic incentives to keep water use low.

Any commercial landscaping area in the Eastern Municipal Water District - which runs from Murrieta to Moreno Valley east of Interstate 215 - is subject to an annual water allowance, said Melanie Nieman, the district's director of community involvement. If schools or other businesses exceed the limits, they can be penalized.

Schools that take eco-friendly steps, on the other hand, can be rewarded through grants and rebates.

A rebate program that will pay for the installation of the waterless urinals in all of Temecula's schools made the decision to switch a no-brainer, Holland said. "It's costing the district absolutely no money," he said.

Holland doesn't expect the district to save much money by going waterless, but said conservative estimates put the district's water savings at 7.8 million gallons each year.

The district already had about 165 waterless urinals in various locations, including Tony Tobin Elementary, and was pleased with the results, Holland said. The urinals use chemical cartridges to break down the urine and turn it into nontoxic liquids that then drain out of the urinals without flushing.

In the Lake Elsinore Unified School District, waterless urinals are being tested in Elsinore and Lakeside high schools and the district plans to gradually place them in all schools throughout the next several years, spokesman Jose Carvajal said. The Menifee Union School District also plans to replace all its urinals with waterless ones during winter break, spokeswoman Betti Cadmus said.

"That's going to be a huge savings of water," Cadmus said.

The plumbers union, however, has opposed waterless urinals and said they are unsafe. David Otterstein of the United Association of Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 230 did not return calls for comment. But last year, he told San Diego County Water Authority board members that he believes the waterless urinals could spread disease.

Holland said the Temecula school district has thoroughly researched the issue and is confident the waterless urinals are not only safe but odorless, as long as facilities officials take care of them.

"That's a typical ploy," Holland said of the plumbers union's opposition. "They're losing business, so they're going to oppose it."

The Eastern Municipal Water District, which offers rebates to businesses that switch to waterless urinals, also believes the toilets are not dangerous.

"It all comes down to proper maintenance," Nieman said.