Appliance To End 'Needless' Flushing7^th Jun 04

Appliance to end ‘needless’ flushing

As Sydney people struggle to comply with water restrictions and limit their use of hand-held hoses, sprinklers, shower heads, cisterns, taps and swimming pools, they keep flushing hundreds of millions of litres of water a year down the toilet … needlessly, says Watersave Australia.

Watersave says it offers an innovative appliance which within a few years could be saving the city and surrounding region tens of millions of litres a year. This appliance is a water-free urinal which works without a cistern and does not flush. 

Such urinals have already been installed in some business premises and public venues in the city and surrounding region. 

Watersave says sales of its urinals are increasing as the drought worsens, the NSW Government imposes more water restrictions throughout the city and people become more water conscious. 

The managing director of Watersave, Paul Marsh, says, “Water-free urinals are so innovative, efficient and economical that they could replace many flushing urinals in a few years and save Sydneysiders tens of millions of litres of water a year.” 

Paul says conventional flushing urinals waste between three and 10 litres of water every flush and need more water for cleaning than Uridan water-free urinals, those distributed by Watersave. Uridan urinals work without water and need less water for cleaning because they are less prone to bacteria and fungi. 

Flushing urinals not only cost more to install but also cost two-and-a-half times as much to operate as Uridan urinals, he says, based on current water and wastewater charges. 

With Sydney’s Warragamba Dam more than half empty, the State Government and Sydney Water are appealing to people to save water by retrofitting low-flow shower heads, fitting low-flow devices on taps and putting weights in cisterns. 

Sydney Water says households of the 45 council areas of Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains have reduced their consumption of water by nearly 30 per cent on average over the last year. Yet these single-dwelling households still consumed about 68 billion litres of water on average in the first quarter of 2004. 

“That is single dwellings alone and when you multiply by four quarters and add all the water used by other types of premises then you have billions of litres to save,” Paul says. “Blocks of flats, offices, shops, factories, schools, hospitals, stations, theatres, stadiums, hotels, parks and other premises and venues have urinals and therefore a huge potential to save lots of water.” 

Sydney Water says nearly 42 billion litres of water have been saved in the Sydney, Illawarra and Blue Mountains region since the NSW Government introduced mandatory water restrictions last October. 

Mayors of the region have met the Minister for Energy and Utilities, Frank Sartor, last week to discuss more ways of saving and recycling water. 

Paul says, “The State Government is encouraging councils to embrace new initiatives such as recycling water in public parks and gardens. Well, councils could save a lot of water and money by installing water-free urinals in new public premises and by gradually replacing flushing urinals with water-free urinals in existing public toilets.” 

Uridan urinals allow urine to flow under a stainless steel cover plate into a waste trap and through a biodegradable layer of odour-blocking fluid into the sewer pipe. 

Watersave Australia Pty Ltd distributes Uridan water-free urinals throughout Australia and New Zealand for manufacturers in Denmark. Contact Watersave Australia Pty Ltd, 57 Cope Street, Lane Cove, NSW 2066; phone 1300 368 603; fax 02 9420 3357; email info@watersave.com.au . 

Sydney’s rainfall has been below average during the summer and 70 per cent of NSW is drought stricken.

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Uridan water-free urinals at a sports stadium

For high-resolution image, click here

Media contact: Paul Marsh -- phone 9940 0990 or 0403 822 896 or 1300 368 603; fax 02 9420 3357 ; email info@watersave.com.au ; web www.watersave.com.au .