The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) Scheme

About this course.

The Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards (WELS) scheme is Australia's national, mandatory scheme for rating and labelling the water efficiency of certain everyday water-using products, and for setting minimum water-efficiency standards for some of them. In short, it requires that products of the covered types — such as taps, toilets, showers, dishwashers and washing machines — be registered and carry a standard water-efficiency label before they can be sold in Australia. The label shows two things at a glance: a star rating that indicates how water-efficient the product is compared with others of its kind, and a figure showing how much water it actually uses. The purpose is simple and important: to help Australia conserve water, and to help buyers compare products and make informed choices.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent, with low and highly variable rainfall across much of the country and a long history of drought. Water is a genuinely scarce and precious resource, and using it efficiently is a national priority rather than a matter of individual preference alone. A great deal of the water used in homes and buildings passes through a relatively small number of product types — the taps we turn on, the toilets we flush, the showers we stand under, and the dishwashers and washing machines we run. Small differences in how much water each of those products uses, multiplied across millions of households and buildings and repeated every day for the life of the product, add up to very large volumes of water. WELS exists to make those differences visible and to drive the market, over time, towards more efficient products.