Water efficiency

compare products based on their water use before they make a purchase.

I ndia s e t up a Bureau of Energy Efficiency in 2002 under the provisions of the Energy Conservation Act, 2001, which pushed strategies on self-regulation industry standards leading to energy-use ratings for most branded appliances.

“A similar national bureau will be created soon to oversee the system of rating goods that run or use water,” the official cited above said.

Such a water bureau was first proposed by the erstwhile Planning Commission under the 12th Plan Period (2012–17). But the country does not have such a system so far.

Water is one of the country’s scarcest resources and 256 dist r i c t s are s e verely waterstressed, according to official estimates. In 2015, 163 million Indians lacked access to clean water, the highest for any country, according to the NGO WaterAid.

“Water efficiency is a good idea but it is tougher and more complex to have water-use rating on appliances than energy ratings. First and foremost, the unbranded market for water consuming devices is far bigger,” said Himanshu Thakkar, coordinator, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People.

Secondly, according to Thakkar, electricity is a “purely human-produced commodity and has a fixed market value”. He added: “Neither is true for water.”

According to the plan, appliances will display information on how much water it consumes on an average to carry out its core functions. For instance, popular models of automatic reverse-osmosis water purifiers draw in untreated water from its supply source to regularly selfclean its filters. An efficient water purifier that uses less water for this function will have a higher rating than one that uses more water.

The government is finalising the setting up of a body similar to the Bureau of Energy Efficiency, which will then have a mandate to devise strategies to make consumer durable firms display water efficiency of their products as part of self-regulation, the official quoted in the first instance said.

It is also planning similar efficiency standards for water use for non-household economic sectors, such as agriculture and industry.