Redring Xpelair Group has called for the Water Labelling Scheme to become mandatory, rather than purely voluntary, with a view to driving the UK to become more conscious about water usage.

The BMA’s water efficiency label, which was rolled out earlier this year, is an initiative that has brought together retailers, merchants and manufacturers to help consumers identify the water efficiency of bathroom fittings such as taps showers, WCs and baths.

Like the Energy Efficiency label found on white goods, the Water Label can be found on bathroom fittings on sale, with further information readily available to consumers to help them compare products on a like for like basis.

“As the drive in the UK to create a more efficient society grows, the government continues to invest in regulations that ensure manufacturers meet certain standards as well as initiatives and schemes which incentivise homeowners to purchase energy efficient products. However, we have noticed that these regulations and initiatives always seem to favour white goods and renewables with a lack of focus on water usage in the home - something that we are keen to address,” explained Steve Holton, Redring Xpelair Group’s strategic marketing director.

According to Waterwise, individuals in the UK use 150 litres of water a day, add to this the water used to produce the foods and products we use daily and the figure jumps to 3400 litres per day, says RXG.

In addition to the amount of water used, Waterwise has also found as much as 25% of a households energy bill comes from heating water, and domestic hot water accounts for 5% of UK greenhouse gas emissions.

These are findings that RXG feels clearly reinforce the requirement for the government to get behind the regulation of this sector.

“RXG is in total support of this initiative but would like to see it become mandatory rather than purely voluntary. If you take the automotive industry as an example, the introduction of aggressive legislation has forced manufacturers to invest in new technologies and take a holistic approach to vehicle design to make them significantly more fuel efficient while banded vehicle excise duty (VED) incentivises car buyers to purchase more efficient models.

“Currently the onus is on manufacturers to develop and promote water efficient products and, although the responsible ones are doing so, it still allows inefficient products to come to market. However, if the government were to get on board, as they have in other areas, to drive the water efficiency initiative by making the water labelling scheme mandatory, manufacturers would be forced to make a step change in innovation, ensuring their products deliver a minimum standard of efficiency.”