Saving Water

Some simple tips for water conservation.

• Wash your hands with cold water, this saves waiting for warm water to arrive at the faucet


• Turn off the tap while you are soaping up your hands while washing.


• If you prefer chilled water, keep a jug of water in the fridge so you don’t have to run your tap while waiting for cool water.


• Use a bucket to wash your car, using the hose only for rinsing.


• Use a container (like a 4Litre milk jug) filled with water to water plants by poking a small pin hole in the bottom, rather than running a house continually.


• Fill kitchen pots with cold water and allow stove to heat. (this is still somewhat up for debate in terms of the energy used)


• Water lawn in evening or morning when there is no direct sun to evaporate your water


• Do not water lawn daily, water once per week allowing a good soaking, do not allow water to fall on hard surfaces, or to drain from lawn to hard surfaces.


• Allow your lawn to grow longer in summer (3-4 inches) so it can stay healthy in dry summer conditions.


• Consider using a “rain barrel” to store water (rain water is especially good for plants) rather than allowing it to get drained off via your house’s drainage system.


• Don’t allow your sprinkler to water the driveway, sidewalk, or street. This water evaporates quickly so it is wasted. Also stop watering if your lawn or garden starts allowing water to run out of it onto the street. it means your land is saturated and should not be watered further.


• Set a timer to remember to turn off your sprinkler.


• Turn off your hose at the faucet on your house, rather than leaving the hose under pressure, where it can leak through couplings or nozzles which are rarely 100% water tight.


• Turn off the tap while you are brushing your teeth.


• Skip a bath or shower.. I’m serious, chances are there is one day a week when you don’t have to smell like a rose. You are getting up, going to chop firewood, and then heading out for a hike. Instead of showering first thing in the morning, save it for evening before you go to bed. When you rise in the morning, you will have just barely had your shower the night before and you can avoid wasting multi-gallons of clean water. Note this won’t always work, and some people need their showers more than others.


• Put a brick in your toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush.


• Fix tap leaks by replacing washers or cartridges. http://www.slowtheflow.com/repairing-faucet-leaks.html It’s easy unless you have a major plumbing problems.


• Fix toilet leaks http://www.slowtheflow.com/repairing-toilet-leaks.html (even silent ones you don’t know you have) Remember the water where you are doing the repair is the fresh water that comes in from your water supply. Relatively speaking it is much cleaner to work on that end.  They provide a handy (albeit general) pdf brochure for fixing toilet leaks.


• Choose a property with trees that shade your yard, providing better conservation of water.