Letter to the Editor
With summer almost here already, the availability of our precious water resources is
at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
Why not decide to mandate the installation of low-flow showerheads and dual-flush
toilets as a pre-sale condition for all homes?
Master Builders has calculated that this would save almost twenty seven billion litres
a year.
At present, there are approximately 600,000 homes in Victoria which still do not have
low-flow shower heads and around 250,000 homes which do not operate dual-flush
toilets.*
Victorian homes have traditionally changed hands every seven years, so these
measures can flow through the community relatively quickly and at minimum cost.
Retrofitting existing homes represents the most cost effective method for improving
Victoria’s wasteful and inefficient water consumption habits. Victoria can do better -
we just have to decide to try.
Brian Welch
Executive Director
Master Builders Association of Victoria
Water Savings:
Toilets:
250,000 homes have single flush toilets
250,000 homes x 35,000 litres = 8.75 billion litre saving
Cost: $200-$1000 per unit
Showerheads:
600,000 homes have inefficient showerheads;
600,000 homes x 30,000 litres = 18 billion litre saving
Cost: $30-$200 per unit
* State Government’s 2009 Green Light Report
NEWS 
