Water New Zealand is a member of the International Water Services Flushability Group (IWSFG). This is a group of water associations, utilities, and professionals are seeking to provide clear guidance on what should and should not be flushed down the toilet to protect customers, wastewater systems, their workers, and the environment.
This objective is supported by Publicly Available Standards (PAS)
documents setting out the test protocols and other information supporting and
referenced in the standard.
This group has created an international PAS to determine the
requirements of what is flushable. PAS (3) was published in July 2018.
PAS1:
Criteria for Recognition as a Flushable Product
PAS2:
Terms and Definitions
PAS3:
Disintegration Test Methods - Slosh Box.
As part of the national response Water New Zealand is seeing funding to assist with this
project. To date 10 out of 67 entities have responded but more are always
welcome. The resources these entities have provided are going towards:
- Creating a joint Australia / New Zealand Flushability Standard based on PAS(1-3) and other documents.
- Looking at having an independent test carried out on wipes currently available in New Zealand
- Putting together a media communication toolbox to assist package
Background Information
Press release form May 2017 - Don't treat your toilet as a rubbish bin
Why it’s important NOT to flush wipes – important messages
Educational video produced by the Food and Grocery Council
TECHNICAL RESOURCES
May 2017 Water journal article outlining standards development initiatives
LINKS FROM AROUND THE WEB
Sydney Waters award winning customer engagement strategy for reducing wipes blockages
“Cant flush this” United Utilities wipe reduction rap video
“We three pees” Southern Waters sewer protection carol
ENQUIRIES
Enquiries can be directed to media@waternz.org.nz or technical@waternz.org.nz.
