Flush Trials Show Customers Ready To Change Behaviour

Trials of a simple but innovative approach to reducing toilet flushing, involving two UK water companies, show that customers would move to less frequent flushes given the right motivations, says Arthur O'Brien, director, Wizso.

A simple odour neutraliser in the form of a pellet dropped into the toilet bowl after urination could save hundreds of thousands of litres of water every year if the results of trials with Affinity Water and Scottish Water are scaled-up.

Wizso, produced by a Belfast-based company of the same name, are made from non-toxic substances and can be dropped into the toilet bowl in place of flushing urine waste. Use of the tiny pellet which changes toilet water to blue and eliminates odours, gives users the confidence not to flush and the opportunity to save water. In turn, that can save carbon and money on household bills.

Toilet flushing accounts for a huge volume of clean water usage in the UK, with an average flush volume of 7.5 litres. Each person urinates around seven times a day, equating to a personal usage of more than 50 litres just to flush the toilet after urinating.

First customer trial
Wizso’s first customer trial was undertaken with Affinity Water in September as part of the water company’s wider water neutrality project supported by Ofwat, the regulator for England & Wales. The trial was conducted in collaboration with Grapeviners, a marketing agency specialising in behavioural change, who adopted a multi-channel approach.

The selected site was Bidwell West, a new 908-home development in Houghton Regis, Bedfordshire, where the water supply is operated by Independent Water Networks as a NAV - new appointments and variations - site. Affinity Water’s Bidwell Water Savers campaign aimed to test the impact of a behaviour change only campaign, with no technological interventions.

Some 1,600 households opted to take part in the trials and those involving Wizso yielded “impressive results”, according to Affinity Water, which provided Wizso to a controlled number of participants during doorstep conversations about the campaign.

Water saving potential
Affinity’s final report - Creating a water-neutral development using behaviour change and off-setting - included an initial assessment of the impact and feasibility of various water-saving actions, which was carried out prior to the trial.

Modelling identified Wizso as having the highest potential for water-saving, based on considerations like expected volumes saved and customer-readiness to adopt. This was assessed as over a third more than using half-flush toilet buttons, and nearly three times as much as turning the tap off during teeth-brushing.

Trial results underscored this potential, showing that participants who experienced the combination of a doorstep conversation, a water-saving pledge and adopted Wizso, saved an average of 51.1 litres of water daily. In comparison, those who only took a pledge saved 32.9 litres per day, while households that received information only managed to save 17 litres per day, in turn reducing carbon emissions and saving money on bills.

Positive results
Lina Nieto, Affinity Water’s then water neutrality manager, said, “Bidwell Water Savers was a trial to test the impact of a behavioural change campaign on water usage in Bidwell West.

“The results have been very positive, and we were delighted to offer Wizso to participants who pledged to reduce their water usage. We have used Wizso in previous research projects and are excited to see its water-saving potential continue to develop.”

According to Affinity Water, nearly 60% of participants accepted Wizso to trial and were “intrigued by their innovative potential”, while 72% are likely to use the product again or recommend it to others. The report highlighted the finding that distributing Wizso during the door-knocking campaign significantly boosted water-saving efforts, making these participants the most successful water-savers in the trial.

Water-saving behaviour-change specialist Weir the Agency provided strategic support to the Bidwell initiative and co-founder Jane Bellard said, “Wizso was really positively received by customers taking part in Bidwell Water Savers. The aim was to undo the water footprint of that housing development – so we were looking at savings as a whole community.

“Almost every single household that was offered Wizso took it, and those who used it saw significantly higher savings than those who didn’t. People were pleased they didn’t have to flush as often, and they didn’t have to use chemical cleaners in their toilets as often.

“When you get an entire community doing that, and Wiszo becomes part of lots of people’s bathrooms, all going in and out of each other's homes, then it becomes a norm.”

Workplace use
More recently, Scottish Water has undertaken a workplace trial and deployed Wizso and Aguardio flush sensors in four toilets at the public utility’s Inverness office for eight weeks. The site has approximately 30 employees and four cubicle toilets.

Over the first four weeks, data was gathered to establish a baseline of flushes, then Wizso was deployed for a further four weeks to determine whether it could help reduce flush numbers. This trial successfully demonstrated that Wizso enabled an average 27% reduction in flushes over four weeks, which represents a possible annual water-saving of some 2,300 litres for this small office.

Scale-up to other Scottish Water sites would mean substantial potential water-savings. The trial also identified Wizso as a great way to encourage positive behavioural changes toward water usage and raise awareness around water demand management.

Other on-going trials with Wizso include workplaces, housing developments and student accommodation blocks.

Mark Gilligan, a chartered engineer and director of Wizso, said, “We are delighted that our water company trials have already delivered such positive results. Resources around the world, including in the UK, are facing depletion and Wizso is a great innovation that will drive long-term water savings for consumers and businesses alike.

“With further controlled trials, on-going development of the product, and enhancements to the user experience, we are gathering more robust data on the exact savings Wizso can be expected to deliver on carbon and cost, along with the product’s full water-saving potential.

“We are receiving significant interest from across the global water sector, along with hospitality, commercial buildings, facilities management and personal care brands. Wizso has applications across many markets and we are very open to building more relationships.”

With water stress becoming increasingly common and the Environment Agency’s National Framework for Water Resources confirming that England faces a 5 billion litre/day shortfall for household water supplies by 2055, water-saving is rising up the agenda.

While savings on one flush may not seem so significant, using Wizso to help households and employees make that one small change every day, across thousands of households and workplaces, could make a massive difference to the availability of water resources and the health of the environment that provides them.