COVER STORY
Fast-tracking adoption of water-efficient toilets The existing toilet use paradigm is water intensive and designed to use a high volume of flush water to transport human waste away. Reduced-flush water toilets are possible and will contribute to decreased water use; however, with water-efficient flush toilets, there is poor uptake in public and private sectors.
T
he Water Research Commission (WRC) has pioneered various initiatives to reduce flush volumes in toilet systems, resulting in innovations such as the pour-flush and low-flush toilets. Low-flush, water-efficient toilets are designed to use low amounts of water for flushing between 1 to 2.5 litres a flush, which, if upscaled, would result in significant nett water savings on a country scale, where nearly 30%
to 40% of all domestic water supply is used for flushing. Furthermore, the locally manufactured low-flush toilets hold potential to create new employment across the value chain and contribute to reducing capital expenditure on greenfield projects, while also improving the capacities of burdened existing sewerage and wastewater systems. A large volume of South Africa’s water consumption is used for flushing
toilets. Water-efficient toilets minimise the amount of water used to convey the waste collected in the bowl to the back-end treatment, conveyance and collection system. “Close to 11 million households have access to a flushing toilet – using mostly 9 to 12 litres per flush. If we can reduce the amount of flush water used by 50%, we could potentially save up to 400 Mℓ of water per day. It is imperative that we all learn how much water we are using, especially regarding sanitation. If we can manage the amount of fresh water that goes down the drain, we have a better chance of securing water for other uses,” explains Akin Akinsete, programme manager, WRC.
Challenges
Despite the overwhelming advantages of low-flush/water-efficient toilets, acceptance and uptake are hampered by various factors: •M any plumbers do not stock or fit lowflushing toilet pedestals because of the perception that they do not work.
