Power showers could be banned under Government plans to save water and dual-flush toilets may go
- Comes under plans to cut personal water consumption by 20 per cent in 15 years
- New efficiency plans include fresh standards for showers, taps and toilets
- Scheme part of push to reduce pollution and make water supply more resilient
Power showers and dual-flush toilets could be axed under Government plans to save water.
This comes under a proposal to cut personal water consumption by 20 per cent for 2038, as part of a scheme to make everyone use as little as 110 litres per day by 2050 under the 25 Year Environment Plan.
Other suggestions include new standards for showers, taps and toilets under a mandatory water efficiency label.
This could mean the end of power showers and dual-flush loos.
It comes three years after an Environment Agency report warned of ‘a serious risk that some parts of the country will run out of water in the next 20 years’.
Efficiency plans include new standards for showers, taps and toilets under a mandatory water efficiency label
High-end showers can use as much as 15 litres a minute – meaning that Brits could use up their 2038 water consumption targets with an eight-minute soak.
And some models of toilet could face bans under concerns over the amount of water lost to leaks, often from dual-flush loos.
The Government’s new Plan for Water, it says: ‘We are improving water efficiency in homes by developing minimum product standards for showers, taps, and toilets.’
But some ministers want to go even further, banning ‘high flow’ products from sale, the Telegraph reported.
Officials hope to reduce household water use to just 122 litres a day per person, slash leakage by more than a third and cut non-household water use by 9 per cent in 15 years.
Currently, areas in the South West are using more than 160 litres a day.
Water use could now also be included on energy performance certificates and water companies have been ordered to accelerate the rollout of smart water meters.
The strategy forms part of a push to reduce waterway pollution and make Britain’s water supply more resilient.
It comes three years after an Environment Agency report warned of ‘a serious risk that some parts of the country will run out of water in the next 20 years’
But Environment Secretary Therese Coffey said anyone who thinks it is possible to fix sewage problems overnight is unrealistic.
And she refused to give a date on when the Government planned to end sewage spills into rivers.
‘No one is calling for the dismantling of towns and cities, but we are demanding an end to the grotesque pollution entering our lakes, rivers and seas,’ Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, told The Telegraph.
‘The serious lack of funding for monitoring pollution and enforcement against polluters has seen the health of our waters deteriorate dramatically at a time when we cannot afford them to get any worse.
‘We need healthy rivers for clean water, so wildlife can recover, and to improve domestic food production.’
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