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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 05 Hansard (Thursday, 13 May 2004) . . Page.. 1859 ..

Inefficient showerheads can use up to 24 litres of water per minute. AAA rated water efficient showerheads (currently the best rating for showerheads) can use as little as 6 litres per minute …

Installing a water efficient showerhead would save an estimated 17 kilolitres of water per year. This means:

reduced water consumption—saving on your water bill and deferring the need for a new dam;

and major public works such as sewers and dams—

reduced sewer flows …; and

reduced energy consumption costs for hot water—reducing your energy bill and greenhouse emissions.

These are substantial benefits from a simple measure that we, the Liberal opposition, believe should be passed on to the community. This is why this bill will mandate the installation of water efficient showerheads in all new domestic work. The concept of a flow-reducing valve is very simple technically. According to another fact sheet from the government, Factsheet No 6: Taps, Aerators and Flow Regulators:

Special valves and flow regulators restrict the diameter of the water flow path, so that less water can come out through the tap each second.

It is pretty obvious; it is not rocket science. Also:

Savings of up to 45 per cent of the water flow, and up to 60 per cent of the energy costs when used on hot water taps, have been reported.

In one instance of a trial of this device in a federal government-owned accommodation complex, we saw water savings of 36 per cent and considerable savings on energy to heat hot water that equated to $1,190 per year and saved 4.29 tonnes of carbon dioxide each year. That is equivalent to the emissions from a typical car driving 1,280 kilometres. In this trial, the payback period for installing the device was 0.8 years.

The ACT government conducted its own trial of flow-limiting valves in selected government housing properties. A preliminary field test conducted on 28 public housing properties under the former Liberal government found total water savings over a six-month period amounted to more than 922,000 litres. The average percentage of water saved was 23.9 per cent. There were also significant savings on energy because households needed less hot water.

The Stanhope government was presented with the final report on energy and water savings in June 2003, but since then has sat on the results. Because Brendan Smyth was the responsible minister when the trial was conducted, he used the conventions to obtain these results. The process of obtaining the documentation was like extracting teeth. It took the opposition from September 2003 to January 2004 to obtain a document which was ours by right. I wonder why the government is sitting on these results.

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