Tasmanians could be the biggest water users in the country with their love of the long shower, with some using as much as 285 litres at a time!
57 per cent of Tasmanians admitted to having showers longer than the recommended 3-4 minutes, some even fessing up to having showers lasting as long as 15 minutes.
This feedback has been provided as part of TasWater‘s Price and Service Plan 5 community engagement.
To put this into perspective, a modern water-saving shower head uses around nine litres of water per minute. An older style can use as much as 19 litres of water a minute, meaning each shower last 5 to 15 minutes can use anywhere between 45 and 285 litres of water.
Households who cut back their shower times to 3-4 minutes stand to save at least $160 a year in power on average for a family of four.
The engagement has also revealed the top priorities for the community, which includes protecting and enhancing Tasmania’s waterways and catchments.
Feedback from more than 3,000 Tasmanians will now be considered by a 45-person independent representative community panel in the next stage of the “Water, It’s Tasmania’s Thing!” campaign.
Over the last four months Tasmanians have answered surveys, participated in one-on-one interviews, experimented with a bill simulator, and even spoken to TasWater staff at events across the state.
TasWater Head of Communications and Engagement Callan Paske said the response to the engagement campaign had been overwhelming.
“The response has been excellent – it’s really pleasing for us to see Tasmanians actively wanting to influence the future of water and sewerage services in Tasmania,” Paske said. “We have seen some fascinating results from our surveys, including more than half of those surveyed having longer than the recommended three-to-four-minute showers. About three per cent of them admitted to having showers for more than 10 minutes daily.
“Through the broader survey, the community told us their top priority, aside from keeping bills as low as possible, is protecting and enhancing waterways and catchments. This aligns with our new Strategy, where we aim to remove 100 per cent of nutrients from waterways by 2050.
“We also have several capital projects currently underway or planned that addresses this priority. This includes our biggest ever capital works project at Selfs Point, which will result in the removal of 132 tonnes – or 50 per cent – of nutrients from the River Derwent.”
Recruitment is now underway for Tasmanians to be part of the community panel, which is the next phase of the PSP submission process.
The panel will discuss the feedback collected throughout the engagement campaign to date.
“The panel will deliberate on the feedback during seven sessions that will run from October 2024 through to February 2025,” Paske said.
“We are hoping to recruit a wide selection of Tasmanians to be a part of this panel. It’s a paid opportunity for the seven days we are asking people to attend.
“The priorities that have come through from the survey, bill simulator, and other sessions will be tested by the community panel.
“They will then make independent recommendations back to us on behalf of all Tasmanians.
“These recommendations and the broad community feedback will all be made publicly available at our engagement hub online.”
Visit TasWater’s engagement hub here.
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