Appliances and fixtures

Efficient appliances and fixtures can significantly reduce water use.

On this page:

  • Toilets
  • Fixtures
  • Appliances

Toilets

In an average home, up to 30% of water use is for toilet flushing. This can be reduced by:

  • ensuring a dual flush cistern is specified
  • installing a water-efficient toilet pan
  • using collected rainwater or treated greywater for flushing
  • installing waterless composting toilets where no mains sewer connection is available.

Many older cisterns use far more water than necessary – typically 12 litres is used. To reduce the amount of water used, replace the inefficient cistern with a modern dual-flush one. (A new pan may be needed where a dual flush cistern cannot be fitted to the existing one.)

If fitting a new pan/cistern is impractical, options you can use to reduce water usage include:

  • placing an object such as a brick, or plastic milk bottle filled with water that has the top firmly screwed on into the cistern to reduce the amount of water required to fill an older cistern
  • adjusting the float ball by bending it down slightly to reduce the volume of water in the cistern – ensure that sufficient flow and volume is maintained for an adequate flush
  • ensuring that the cistern supply shuts off fully when not in use.

In all cases, sufficient flow and volume must be maintained so the pan is cleared with a single flush.

Other fixtures

Water usage can be reduced by specifying/installing:

  • low-flow shower heads that use 9 litres of water or less per minute and still deliver a comfortable shower
  • aerators on taps used for hand washing – aerators are not suitable for taps on fixtures such as baths where water is being used to fill the fixture.
 
Reduced water flow by specifying an aerator

An aerator on a tap used for handwashing will reduce the flow while still providing plenty of water. Aerators should not be specified for taps on fixtures such as baths where a large volume of water is required.

Appliances

Reduce water use by recommending water-efficient appliances. Under the Water Efficiency Labeling Scheme, products imported into New Zealand after 1 April 2011 will be required to display a water rating label explaining their water consumption and efficiency. Products imported before 1 April 2011 will have until 1 April 2013 to comply. More information can be found at http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/water/wels-scheme/index.html.

In the meantime, information about water efficiency can be found at the Australian water efficiency rating scheme website www.waterrating.gov.au.

Do not specify or install waste disposal units. Instead, where possible, encourage building users to compost all organic kitchen waste.