A Fine Drop

The Sunday Age

Sunday January 21, 2007

Claire Halliday

Great-looking bathrooms used to be water gushers. Not any more. Stories by Claire Halliday.

When Peter Campbell renovated the bathroom of his Surrey Hills home, his priority, he says, was water efficiency. Not too long ago, such a brief might have had his bathroom looking like something from a hippie commune. These days, though, style-savvy homeowners are finding that water-saving technology and beautiful design can go hand in hand.

With low-flow shower heads (such as the one on the left) and electric, pump-driven rainwater tanks with a total of 23,500 litres of storage, Campbell says that just one kitchen tap with water suppled by Melbourne Water is used for drinking water, occasionally.

"We have not topped the tanks up with Melbourne mains water for over three years," he says. "We have paid $0 for water consumption over this time."

Campbell has also started work on a grey-water diversion that will eventually direct all grey water to sub-surface soil in the rear garden.

"Water efficiency is important to us because water is a scarce resource and we need to use it carefully. This is becoming more necessary and evident as our water reservoirs continue to fall during the current drought," he says. "Building more dams is not the answer; there is not enough rainfall to fill them."

Having run as a Greens candidate in his local electorate, Campbell would be expected to adhere to these views by implementing water-saving options in daily living. But, political persuasions aside, creating water-wise bathrooms is becoming a necessity for Victorian homeowners.

A swag of young designers has shown at the recent 2006 reecedesign Bathroom Innovation awards that, in drought-ridden times, form and function need not be mutually exclusive.

Take Alison Norcott's winning design in the student category: the Osiris Twin Shower. Setting out to create a minimalist look, the Swinburne University student, who won a $10,000 prize, says that she developed the functional shower with inspiration taken from nature's organic shapes Norcott also made sure that the Osiris shower complied with Australian standards for water efficiency, thus reducing water consumption from the average 15 litres per minute to only nine litres.

In the professional category, the Ripple Basin, created by Andrew Fowkes, from NSW's AF Designs, is a stunner with a neat trick that addresses the inner urban issues of space. Designed with the modern city dweller in mind, the basin can be folded away when not in use, making it ideal for small apartments. Its ripple effect manages the flow of water through precision-milled grooves designed to reduce overflow during everyday processes such as brushing teeth.

Even the toilet is getting a makeover: a dual-flush system uses about 40 litres a day on average, down from 120 litres in a conventional model. But Caroma Dorf's Smartflush toilet has taken the water saving even further by using only 4.5 litres for a full flush and a mere three litres in the reduced version.

"Due to the increasing urgency to conserve water, Australians will readily accept and demand water-efficient products in the bathroom," says research and design manager with Caroma Dorf, Dr Steve Cummings.

The brand's catalogue of water-efficient products includes designer tapware, mixers, shower heads and toilet suites.

Another company with a water-wise winner is Dux. It's Hot Water Readyhot water recirculation system won the Green Plumbers Water Efficient Product of the Year Award for 2006 last month.

That there are so many water-efficient products in the marketplace (and the awards to honour them) are positive signs, says a Sustainability Victoria spokesperson, who adds that the percentage of Melburnians buying water-efficient products is on the rise.

"Over 140,400 rebates have been claimed across the whole of Victoria and more than 115,000 rebates within the Melbourne metropolitan area.

"We've used 22 per cent less than the 1990s' average (of Melbourne's daily water usage)."

At Richmond's rogerseller, Kylie Singh says there has been a rise in customers asking more questions about the water-efficiency of their bathroom products, including a range of rogerseller tapware with an eye for both water efficiency and design.

"In general, people are definitely becoming more water-aware," Singh says. "We offer water-wise products while still maintaining a strong focus on the design of a product. We have worked hard to ensure our imported products are compliant with WELS (see facing page)."

At Brunswick-based Sunpower Design, a practice that aims for sustainability in design, Andreas Sederof is pleased that bathroom design is now nodding towards the need to be economical with water. "We feel there is no need to compromise the aesthetic to achieve water efficiency," he says.

With the greater awareness, business is booming. "Our turnover has increased over the past five years by 300 per cent. We are now working with clients who are younger and more socially responsible, as well as many more people contemplating retirement who want to keep their ongoing bills to a minimum," says Sederof.

"From our point of view, the design of a water-efficient bathroom is just as easy as any other bathroom. Many of our clients are more than 85 per cent self-sufficient in water."

Two such happy clients are Glenn and Karen Tempest. They wanted to embark on an inner-city, double-storey renovation that incorporated the best water-saving practices. At the same time, they also wanted to blend the Victorian-era facade of their double-fronted Moonee Ponds home with a strikingly contemporary interior.

With just two taps that aren't plumbed to grey water, Karen says that saving water was key when the couple began their bathroom renovations two years ago. A 3000-litre grey-water tank buried in the back garden is used for watering plants, while the showers, kitchen and bathroom taps (from rogerseller) rely on rainwater stored in the two 8000-litre-capacity tanks.

Although they recently had to switch to mains water to give those half-full tanks a chance to replenish, Karen says that the savings - for both the environment and their household bills - have been enormous. "We haven't had a water bill in ages," she says.

Renovating or building - what you can do

- According to Sustainability Victoria, the community should be using 6/3 litre dual-flush toilets or better. There are 4.5/3 litre dual-flush toilets available.

- Shower roses should be 3-star rated under the WELS Scheme.

- People building new homes must refer to the 5-star standard for minimum requirements on new homes.

- www.pic.vic.gov.au has information on the plumbing regulations for minimum requirements for toilets, shower roses and some tap fittings.WELS and what it means

-A ustralian governments introduced the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) Scheme, with new star ratings for major water-using household appliances in 2005.

The WELS Scheme became mandatory in July last year and includes star rating stickers (replacing the AAAAA ratings) on household appliances and fittings.

The more stars, the more water-efficient the product. Products with a high number of stars on their water-rating labels will save you money on water and energy bills. In the case of some products, money can also be saved through the Victorian Government's Water Smart Gardens and Homes rebates scheme. Despite the WELS-related changes, however, not everything you find in your local bathroom specialist will necessarily offer the best in water-efficiency ratings.

For more information, visit: waterrating.gov.au

ELEMENTS

Five great bathroom water savers

Caroma Dorf's Dux Hot Water Readyhot water recirculation system won the Green Plumbers Water Efficient Product of the Year Award for 2006, rrp around $1000, not including installation.

rogerseller's Gas Tapware Rectangular Wall Basin Outlet with the Gas Wall Top Assembly features sleek, rectangular design made from solid brass and finished in lustrous chrome. It has a 5-star/5 litres per minute WELS rating, rrp: $198.

rogerseller's Tonic Motion Basin Mixer, made with DR brass, is available in satin or chrome. The functional and contemporary design also has a 5-star/5 litres per minute WELS rating, rrp $295.

Caroma Dorf's G-Type v3.0 Basin Mixer is a minimalist, geometric, award-winning European design and one of the first mixers with slide control, rather than a rotational control. WELS 3-star rating, rrp: $692.12.

Stockists

Caroma, tel: 1300 227 662,

www.caroma.com.au

rogerseller, 593 Church Street, Richmond, tel: 9429 8888, rogerseller.com.au

reecedesign, 891-895 High Street, Armadale, tel: 9500 9978,

reecedesign.com.au

© 2007 The Sunday Age

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