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Old flats will get new toilet bowls as part of the national push to save water. In another move, intelligent devices will help people track how much water they use as they shower.
Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli, in announcing both initiatives earlier this week, said Singapore could do more to reduce water usage. "I have been inspired by the many stories of people who have gone the extra mile to conserve water... This is the right spirit. We should do more together," he said during the debate on his ministry's budget.
The first effort involves replacing non water-efficient toilet bowls in Housing Board flats built between 1986 and 1992, occupied by lower- income households. PUB said details about both projects will be announced later this year. The existing, single-flush 9-litre toilet bowls in these flats will be replaced with more efficient, dual- flush ones that have a capacity of 4 litres. This is expected to reduce monthly water bills by up to 10 per cent. Such a replacement is expected to save 5 litres for each full flush, and about 6,000 flats may benefit.
The other project involves installing smart shower devices in 10,000 new homes. These devices tell people how much water they are using as they shower. Both schemes come under national water agency PUB. The installation of the smart shower devices follows an earlier study that PUB did with the National University of Singapore, which showed that a person could save up to 5 litres of water a day using such devices.
To further help people save water at home, Mr Masagos said PUB will start to phase out less water-efficient products. PUB will raise the minimum standards of water fittings to two-tick products, up from one-tick, from April 2019. The tick system awards more ticks to more water-efficient products. PUB will also extend such labelling requirements to dishwashers from October next year.
Adapted from The Straits Times.