A water efficiency labelling scheme administered by the federal government is not well enforced and about 10% of the products authorised to use the label carry a ‘zero stars’ version that means they don’t meet basic water efficiency standards.
The House of Representatives committee that yesterday tabled the inquiry report urges the federal environment department to “take immediate action” to implement minimum water efficiency standards for all products covered by the scheme.
The committee also recommends the federal environment department “examine its current enforcement practices” for the scheme.
The Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (WELS) is a joint initiative of the federal, state and territory governments and became mandatory on July 1, 2006. The WELS Regulator is located within the federal Department of Environment and Water Resources (DEW).
The report notes that under the scheme “a product can still obtain a WELS label, and therefore be legally sold, if it does not meet water efficiency or other basic performance standards”.
“The product will be issued a ‘zero rating’ label clearly indicating that it does not comply with AS/NZ 6400 [Water Efficient Products – Rating and Labelling].”
“This covers around 10% of plumbing products registered under the WELS scheme,” it says.
A submission by the Institute of Plumbing Australia was scathing of the scheme allowing water-wasting products to still carry a form of the WELS label. “If this does not send the wrong message to the buying public nothing will,” it said.
The Australian Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers’ Association told the inquiry that WELS “has become highly legalistic, bureaucratic and inefficient, with little apparent enforcement and many obvious examples of non-compliance”.
The Plumbing Products Industry Group said “complaints to WELS on non-compliance have seemingly produced little or no response and this perceived inaction causes companies to wonder why they should bother complying when others seem able to not be affected by the legislation and/or requirements.”
The committee also notes concerns raised in submissions about inadequate enforcement activity of the WaterMark certification scheme administered by Standards Australia, which covers quality and safety aspects of plumbing products, as well as water efficiency.
The committee concludes “higher profile enforcement of the relevant plumbing product standards is required”.
It also recommends that WaterMark certification be a prerequisite for registering a product under WELS, even though DEW claimed in its submission this would require “significant changes to the current legislation” and would not work.
The committee also recommends the Council of Australian Governments explore options to establish “a national coordinating body” to ensure more consistent regulatory arrangements for plumbing products.
Managing The Flow: Regulating Plumbing Product Quality (House Standing Committee on Environment and Heritage, September 19, 2007)
