$20 million to go towards water saving devices

The Beattie Government has made $20 million available to local Councils to stage water audits and to install water saving devices.

Bob Kimlin, president of the Master Plumbers Association (MPAQ), said the organisation has been pushing for such a move for some time now.

"Each day we loose millions of litres of water because of faulty plumbing or outdated devices such as single flush toilets. There's a range of ways both domestic and commercial users can greatly cut their water consumption, and quite frankly save themselves many many dollars in water rates," he said.

MPAQ plans to meet with local authorities and SEQWater to discuss the implementation of the plan.

"Water restrictions are now a long term reality, and we believe all residents and businesses need to look at how they can save water as a key part of the long term solution. Encouraging people to rid their homes and businesses of old fashioned water wasters such as single flush toilets, out dated showerheads or by installing tap flow limiters is the way of the future," Kimlin said.

"We believe there are about 3 million single flush toilets in operation across Australia. If they all were replaced with efficient dual flush systems we'd see massive water savings which would match the output of things such as desalination plants but would have no environmental effect or on-going running costs."