BANSHEE: A to jste ještě nečetli, jak to napsali v britských novinách:
THE TIMES
EU's ideal standard for lavatory flushing
Not even the smallest and most private room in the house can escape the long arm of the European Union. And yesterday it inched uncomfortably close to your bathroom cistern.
After research lasting almost three years and costing tens of thousands of pounds, Eurocrats are proposing to standardise lavatory flushes across the Continent. Bog standardise, you might say.
A new Europe-wide advisory standard will set the "euroflush", as it has been nicknamed, at five litres for lavatories and one litre for urinals, according to draft proposals. Three litres will be permitted for a half-flush.
It is a move that should leave Britons gripping their seat in fear: research shows that lavatories in the UK use more water than those in any other country in Europe. New British cisterns are still allowed to contain up to six litres of water and, in older properties, larger sizes are not uncommon.
The research to draw up the new criteria involved studying Europe-wide lavatory and urinal habits and cost (EURO)89,300 (£76,500) funded by the European Commission, an EU spokeswoman said. Plans for the standardised flush will be part of final proposals for an EU "Eco-label", which is expected to be released next week.
It comes just weeks after José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission President, promised that Brussels would cut back on bureaucratic recommendations. David Cameron last week made the case at an EU summit for reducing red tape, but the work put in by the European Commission on its flushing proposals shows that, while Britain likes to pull the chain, Brussels uses the most paper.
"Two key elements appear to affect the water consumption of flushing toilets and urinals: their design and the user behaviour," EU officials concluded in a 122-page background report on flushing after discussions with "stakeholders".
Meetings of the European Commission working group were held in Brussels and Seville, in Spain. "User behaviour is a crucial aspect and must be without any doubts emphasised," the experts added. "The user behaviour analysis carried out showed how the average water consumption differs among the EU member states. Also the consumption between citizens of one country may vary very significantly."
The research into the habits of Europeans uncovered results that might make uncomfortable reading for Britain's environmentalists. Top of the European flushers was the UK, with 1,125 million cubic metres of water used by domestic lavatories in 2010, followed by Italy (1,074) and Germany (1,021).
While 25 per cent of domestic water use was for flushing across the EU, the British figure of 30 per cent was topped only by 33 per cent in Luxembourg.The Finns flushed the least, at 14 per cent of household water usage.
The report does not end there. Britain has 45.3 million private and public toilets, the fourth highest number in the EU, behind Germany (77 million), Spain (49.2 million) and Italy (46.5 million). France, despite having a slightly higher population than the UK, has 3.3 million fewer lavatories. Most urinals in Europe are in Italy (8.2 million).
An EU spokeswoman said: "We will propose next week criteria under which member states can award Ecolabel status to products, in this case toilets and urinals. Eco-label criteria help consumers, businesses, local authorities etc, who want to buy green products, know which product to choose."