John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I would like to mention two other things. Massachusetts, which is probably the leading state in the US with regard to building regulations, has introduced regulations in the last two or three years to provide that from the moment one turns on one's hot water tap, hot water must arrive to the spout within something like eight seconds. It was only when I heard about those regulations that I realised we waste a great deal of clean water as we wait for it to get hot. It just goes down the sink. Have we any plans in that regard? What is the best practice standard in this area? As a rider to that, I would like to ask about the water we use in the bathroom when we flush the toilet. It costs money to clean the water in question. We have not yet separated the system of water going into houses. We still spend enormous amounts of money cleaning water regardless of whether it is going to be used in bathrooms for flushing purposes or as drinking water from the sink.