A recent article which ran in Plumbing Connection magazine looked at water saving subsidies, the uptake of these subsidies and why so many people are yet to acknowledge the need to change their lifestyles to conserve water.

At the Plumbing Supply Fporum 2009, Graeme Phillipson, who heads up Connection Research, spoke about the survey they conducted: Domestic Water Usage in Australia – 2009, which formed the basis for the article which ran in Plumbing Connection magazine.

The survey looks at attitudes to water conservation and found that 62.7% of people had not heard of WELS, 81.1% don’t know their annual water usage per year (average is about 100kw a year) and most people think they use less water than others, but believe their usage is higher than the average.

80.5% know water usage prices in their area and think they pay too much. 8.2% don’t know if prices are too high or low. 65.8% of people believe they are doing what they can to reduce water and charging more wouldn’t reduce consumption.

As far as plumbers are concerned, they are not regarded as a source of advice for information on water sources.

Other figures showed that people are unaware of water definitions: potable, blackwater, desalinated, distilled, recycled, grey, storm etc. 64/1% of people are willing to flush using recycled water. 40% of people say no to drinking recycled water and about 1/3 of the 1,400 respondents have a tank.

For Graeme’s complete presentation, facts and figures, click on the presentation link below.