Ja urged to embrace more water-efficient fixtures
Jamaica is being urged to consider embracing more water-efficient fixtures as a conservation strategy.
Rapporteur and former managing director of the Water Resources Authority (WRA), Basil Fernandez, reasoned that, while these could seem costly initially in the long run, such investments would pay off as customers see a decline in their water bills.
“Right now, the NWC (National Water Commission) does supply management – they lock off the water when they don’t have – but what is the possibility of going to demand management?” Fernandez asked during a Gleaner Editors’ Forum on Wednesday.
“In demand management,” he explained, “you reduce the demand that the householder or the customer has for water, and that can be done through the implementation of water-saving devices in an industry or in the home.”
The former WRA boss shared that, in many countries, householders are assisted by their utility companies to install low-flush toilets, high-pressure shower heads and aerators, which are paid for through a period of amortisation on their water bills.
Fernandez said that such a step could be considered for Jamaica.
Director of the Environmental Management & Conservation Division at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), Anthony McKenzie, supported the idea of regulations for the standard for water-efficient fixtures.
These standards exist in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia in the form of WaterSense and Waterwise and WELS, respectively.
They generally impose a maximum on the amount of water used for a toilet flush – gallons per flush or litres per flush. For faucets, shower heads and other water-use equipment, there are regulations on the number of gallons per minute.
“As part of the building approval, if you have standards that are part of the regulation, then certainly, you will have to meet these standards in procuring whatever device you want. Secondly, I would support a duty regime that provides for incentives for these devices,” McKenzie said.
In a Jamaica National (JN) Foundation water summit earlier this year, CEO of Instant-Save Conservation Solutions, Leanne Spence, explained that, in the average household, approximately 24 per cent of water gets flushed down the toilet and the bathroom fixture remains the largest consumer of water in homes.
The average toilet in Jamaican homes uses one and two-thirds to two gallons per flush.
Another 20 per cent of water is used in showers, 19 per cent by faucets, 17 per cent in clothes washers, 12 per cent attributed to leaks, and the remaining eight per cent covers other uses, including outdoors.
Spence had reasoned that the installation of water-efficient fixtures can reduce usage by half without compromising aesthetics, function or comfort.
Meanwhile, JN Foundation Chairman Parris Lyew-Ayee also threw his support behind the idea of giving incentives to people willing to use more efficient devices.
“I would give strong incentives to bring in energy-efficient, water-efficient facilities. If you can get more effective, efficient, energy-saving, water-saving facilities at a cheaper rate, with good incentives, that’s the way to go,” he said.