BRISBANE City Council and Caroma have developed an Australian first idea that integrates a hand wash basin with a dual flush toilet to help households and businesses save water.
The innovative all-in-one design uses excess water from hand washing for toilet flushing.
The Council claims it is "not only compact but also aesthetically pleasing, modern, and most importantly, it saves water."
With South East Queensland in the grip of the worst drought on record, Brisbane Lord Mayor Campbell Newman said it was yet another water efficient option for residents.
"Under level 5 restrictions, the Queensland Water Commission expects everyone to reduce their water consumption to 140 litres per day," he said.
"This hand basin toilet will certainly help household water saving efforts at a time when every drop counts."
Cr Newman said the dual-flush hand basin toilet could help homeowners with old single flush toilets reduce their water consumption from 12 litres a flush to about four litres a flush.
Compared with the most water efficient dual flush toilets, the use of water collected from the hand basin facility reduced water use by a further 10 per cent.
"This is a smarter and more sustainable dual flush toilet because it reuses water from hand washing that would usually go down the sink," Cr Newman said.
