Water saving loo

A water-saving toilet could help save over a billion gallons of water per day - if we all had one!

The Propelair WC is the creation of Phoenix Product Development, based in the new Knowledge Dock Centre at the University of East London ’s Docklands Campus.

'Toilet flushing currently accounts for over 30 percent of domestic water usage in the UK. Due to its innovative displaced air flushing system, the Propelair toilet uses less than 1.5 litres of water per flush - just a sixth of the 9 litres used by an average UK toilet,' said Garry Moore, Managing Director of Phoenix Product Development and inventor of the Propelair system.

'We are now talking to manufacturers and investors with a view to putting Propelair on the market,' he added.

'In one Ilford home, where we installed a Propelair WC, over fifty tonnes of water has already been saved. That’s one toilet, in one house, in one street; think how much water could be saved if everyone converted to a Propelair WC,' he added.

Results from a 6-month trial held at the Water Research Centre in Swindon between February and July 2006 showed that if every house in the UK were to install Propelair, 1.85bn litres of water would be saved each day and the UK’s water needs would be reduced by up to 10%.

Dr Ana-Maria Milan, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Exeter, has been interpreting the Propelair trial’s results as part of a research project entitled Water Cycle Management for New Development (WAND).

'The Propelair system performs very well, actually better than conventional toilets. Used widely, the system could stop us flushing billions of litres of precious water down the drain every day,' she said.