Ways To Save Water In The Home

save waterHere’s some tips and ways to save water in the home.

With water charges now implemented since the 1st of October 2014, we’ve put together some tips and ways to save water in the home. The average household can use about 500 litres of water a day!

Washing your car with a hose can use up to 300 litres of water alone, which is roughly about 35 buckets. A washing machine on a full power cycle can use up to 70 litres of water. A dishwasher uses about 20 litres of water. In the bathroom the toilet uses about 9 litres, older toilets can use up to 14 litres per flush. Newer “dual” type toilets only use 6 litres per flush. The average bath can take 80 litres to fill, some even more. A 5 minute shower can use between 30 and 40 litres of water. A 5 minute “power” shower however can use up to 100 litres of water, more water than an average bath!

Ways to save water in the bathroom.

Toilethippo water saver

  •  The average toilet uses about 9 litres of water per flush. Toilets installed over 20 years ago can use 14 litres per flush. Only flush the toilet when necessary You can also install a “Hippo Bag” to reduce the capacity of water in the cistern.
  • Make sure the cistern is not leaking. You can check this by adding some food colouring dye into the cistern, if the dye shows up in the toilet bowl then your cistern is leaking and should be checked.
  • Consider installing newer “Dual Type” toilet cisterns. Dual flush and slimline cisterns are very water efficient.

 Showers

  • Avoid using the bath use the shower instead. A bath can use 80 liters of water while a shower can use as little as 30 litres of water.
  • Avoid using power showers as these can use between 5 and 15 litres of water per minute! Some power showers can use over 120 litres of water in just 5 minutes!
  • You can also install a water efficient shower head to reduce the flow of water.

Baths

  • Baths can use up to 80 litres of water per fill. Use the shower instead as this can use as little as 30 litres of water per 5 minute shower.
  • If you do use the bath, put the plug in straight away, don’t run the tap waiting for hot water.

kitchen areaWays to save water in the kitchen.

  • Try to use the washing machine and dishwasher only when full. This saves water as well as electricity. A washing machine can use 60 litres of water per load and a dishwasher 20 litres per load. Wash small loads of dish’s by hand.
  • When boiling the kettle only fill enough water for what you need, do not fill the kettle to the top. This will also save a huge amount of electricity!
  • Instead of running the tap for cold drinking water, fill a jug and leave in the fridge.
  • Use a basin for washing vegetables & dish’s, never under a running tap! Reuse the water for watering house plants or in the garden.
  • Steaming vegetables instead of boiling them can save water.
  • When purchasing new kitchen appliances, make sure the are “A” rated.
slimline water butt

250 ltr water butt

Ways to save water in the garden.

  • Install and use water butts to collect rainwater from roofs and down pipes. Use the collected rainwater to wash your car and water the garden and houseplants.
  • If you wash your car with a hose it can use up to 300 litres of water!
  • It may seem silly but check the weather forecast before watering plants in the garden. It might rain later!
  • A sprinkler can use huge amounts of water. Use a watering can instead.
  • Believe it or not, you can kill plants from over watering! Only water plants when necessary.
  • If you notice a leak repair it straight away. If you notice a leak in public areas please notify the council or contact us here and we will send a report into the Fix My Street Swinford team.

pdf green schools downloads Download the Green Home Water Action Plan

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