Ideal Standard urges Government to tackle water saving

Ideal Standard urges Government to tackle water saving in the home. Ideal Standard International, a leading provider of innovative and design-driven bathroom solutions called on the Government to do more to effect radical change in the bathroom at a House of Commons event on 8 February.

Alongside the Bathroom Manufacturers Association and the National Home Improvement Council, Ideal Standard renewed its commitment to water saving in the home, stressed the need for educating consumers in sustainable use, and called on the Government to intervene to make change happen.

Access to water is mans most basic need. Water is a most precious commodity and we need to use it wisely. The next decade will see us at the forefront of developments to enhance sustainability. However our efforts will be in vain unless it is seen as part of a multi faceted approach to the problem that combines product innovation, government intervention and widespread education said Tony Rheinberg, Marketing Manager at Ideal Standard.

Ideal Standard highlighted the role of manufacturers as two-fold: to create sustainable solutions for the bathroom that do not diminish performance; and to play a role in educating consumers and industry in efficient water usage. Ideal Standard stressed the need to be targeted in the areas where the most gains can be achieved citing refurbishment as a key area.
Ideal Standard argued that in isolation, however, more efficient products will not necessarily save water but that they needed to be accompanied by enlightened consumer usage.

Getting people to turn off taps is a major challenge but there are signs that consumers are waking up to the importance of using water responsibly. Water metering will increase consumer awareness of the cost of water, for instance. But more needs to be done. In the UK we estimate there are still around 11 million WCs that flush on more than six litres of water - some use as much as 11 litres. It is in this area that government can help by providing incentives for consumers to change their WCs.

The Bathroom Manufacturers Association (BMA) has already put in place a labelling scheme offering simple and effective way of identifying low water usage products. The BMA hope that this will be universally adopted across the industry and provide a benchmark for water saving improvements. Ideal Standard already has 204 products on this scheme and is looking to add many more.
Yvonne Orgill, chief executive of the Bathroom Manufacturers Association, also urged the Government to introduce a toilet scrappage scheme to phase out water guzzling toilets that havent been update since the 1980s. She highlighted statistics suggesting that two thirds of the world's population will live in water stressed areas, and that the UK will not escape it.

"We have to act today. In the UK, the south east is currently drier than Istanbul, or even Spain, and even the Isle of Sky has experienced water issues. There are also many parts of the midlands that are now under water stress, so it's a lot closer to home than we anticipated, Orgill said.

Examples of some of the water efficient products Ideal Standard has developed are:
Low Flush WC's Ideal Standard now sells dual flush WC's that flush on only four litres of water long flush and 2.6 litres of water short flush. Compare that with 13 litres of water 40 years ago and nine litres 25 years ago
Waterless urinals - Use no water and can save 87,000 litres of water per year versus a conventional urinal
Regulated taps and mixers with spray outlets can save around 40% of basin tap usage
Low capacity baths - an average modern bath uses 190 litres of water up to the overflow. Low capacity baths use as little as 116 litres of water.
Automatic taps and mixers that only operate when the user is present.

National Home Improvement Council
The NHIC represents companies and organisations that work in the home improvement sector. They promote higher standards of materials and workmanship, backed up with codes of practice, guarantees and warranties.

Bathroom Manufacturers Association
The Bathroom Manufacturers Association's (BMA) prime objective is to provide an independent forum for bathroom manufacturers trading in the UK to properly discuss and debate matters of mutual interest. The BMA acts as an information highway between Industry, government and the consumer on issues that affect the bathroom business.

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