White toilet bowl in the bathroom from Shutterstock.com

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli has announced at his ministry’s Committee of Supply debate in Parliament on Wednesday (8 March) that PUB will phase out less water efficient fittings as part of new initiatives to enhance water efficiency and encourage water conservation in Singapore.
This initiative came after Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced in his Budget speech last month that water prices will increase by 30 percent, in which the tariffs will go up in two steps, in July 2017 and in July 2018.
Mr Masagos stated that PUB will introduce two new water conservation programmes to further encourage water efficiency within households.
The first one is to replace the nine-litre water closets with more efficient ones.
According to PUB, the households would save five litres of water per full flush and could potentially save 10 percent of their monthly water bill, adding that more details will be provided at a later date.
The other programme is for PUB to install smart shower devices for 10,000 new homes as a demonstration project and provides real-time information on water consumption during showers.
Mr Masagos noted that earlier small-scale study found that a person could save up to five litres a day using these devices.
He said that if the positive effects are validated in the demo project, PUB may roll out the devices to more households.
The Minister also said that the national water agency will mandate the sales, supply and installation of water fittings with at least two ticks in all new and existing premises undergoing renovation from April 2019.
He then stressed that dishwashers will also be included in the Mandatory Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme from October 2018.
The Minister then noted that for the non-domestic sector, which consumes the bulk of water in Singapore, large water users (consuming at least 60,000 cubic metres of water a year) will need to send representatives for a three-day water efficiency manager course from 2019.

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