‘Revising cistern standards can save up to 40% water from going down the drain’

Indian cities can save an estimated 40 per cent of water going down the drain if the Government revises the existing standards of toilet cisterns being used for flushing, said a group of scientists.

About 200 litres of water are literally flushed down the drain by each household daily, amounting to a staggering 348 million litres a day, or about 20 per cent of the total water distributed, said the Delhi Science Forum (DSF) in a petition submitted to the Rural Development and Consumer Affairs Ministers here on Tuesday.

This is an easy-to-implement and low-cost solution and fits in with the government’s Swachch Bharat Abhiyan, said DSF, which has extensively researched various options to reduce water use in Indian toilets.

Calling for adoption of a revised water-saving standard for water closet (WC) flush systems in India, D Raghunandan of DSF said the current standard calls for maximum 10 litres/flush or six litres in low-flush option. “We have called for a revised standard of maximum six litres/flush or three litres for low-flush option to be made mandatory within a time-frame of, say, three-five years,” he said, adding that such standards have been prevalent in the European Union and the US since many years.

The technology is well known and Indian industry should have no difficulty in making the transition to the new standard WC flushing systems in a short time-frame, said DSF.

At a time when India is facing a crisis of water, including for drinking purposes, the existing flush standards are resulting in enormous wastage, mostly of treated water, said DSF, urging the Ministries concerned to review these to promote better sanitation and save precious water.

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