Most people in countries that can afford new washing machines don't worry too much about water. ... except if you live in a country that is known to suffer fro

Most people in countries that can afford new washing machines don't worry too much about water. ... except if you live in a country that is known to suffer from severe long-lasting droughts as a result of climate change....like us here in Australia. We're more than able to afford new washing machines - in fact, our government subsidises us (in the form of cashbacks) for getting more efficient machines. The problem is the lack of rainfall combined with increases in population and water requirements as a result. In fact, we're so water conscious now that there is legislation in place, in the form of water restrictions, to help limit unnecessary water usage. EDIT - just thought I'd break down some numbers to show why this is a good thing for us. Household water usage in Australia is just over 11% of the total water usage, the second highest use in Australia behind Agriculture. I'm not sure on our specific percentages of washing usage to normal usage, but if we assume that the 13% figure is fairly consistent with the UK (given relatively similar cultural backgrounds) then our washing machines account for about 1.4% of all total water usage in Australia. Being able to cut this down significantly is good news, when you consider water usage (for us anyway) is measured in gigalitres (potentially saving up to 268 GL a year) - thats a whole heap of h2o