How much water an appliance or bathroom fitting uses can vary greatly from one make or model to the next – for example, a water-efficient clothes washer can use less than half the amount of water per cycle as a same-sized inefficient model. Now, New Zealand has a labelling scheme to help you sort out the water-efficient models from the rest.
The New Zealand Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme (WELS) provides consumers with information about how efficiently products such as washing machines, showers and taps use water – via labels on new products in shops and showrooms.
How the WELS labels work
The WELS label displays two key pieces of information:
1. a star rating indicating relative water efficiency
2. a water use or water flow figure
Each product label displays a star rating out of six – the more stars, the more water efficient (showers currently have a maximum star rating of three, as there is not yet a laboratory test to ensure very low-flow shower products deliver acceptable performance. You can find a Consumer test of shower performance here).
What does WELS cover?
The WELS label applies to six product classes:
- Clothes washing machines
- Dishwashers
- Toilets
- Showers
- Taps
- Urinals
Find out more about WELS here.