Running water is an incredibly valuable resource with an almost endless list of applications and uses in and around the home.
In the kitchen:
The kitchen is a major consumer of water in the home, using around 10% of total household water consumption for cooking, cleaning, washing, or drinking
Handy Tips:
• To avoid wasting drinking water from a running tap, collect it in a bottle or jug and store it in the fridge until it is cool enough to drink.
• When you clean your fish tank, use the ‘old’ nitrogen and phosphorous-rich water on your plants.
• Make sure your hot water system thermostat is not set too high. Adding cold water to cool very hot water is wasteful.
Laundry:
15-20% of all water consumed in the home is used in the laundry, making this room a high consumer of not only water but also energy and detergents.
Handy Tips:
• Adjust the water level to suit the size of the wash load – some new water efficient models will do this automatically.
• Wash with a full load and you will save 10 litres of water each wash.
• Use the sud-saver option – if your machine has one – when you have several loads to wash.
In the bathroom:
About 40% of all water consumed in the home is used in the bathroom. A quarter of that water is flushed down the toilet!
Handy Tips:
• Limit time spent in the shower to soap up, wash down, and rinse off.
• Shave your legs before taking a shower. Use running shower water to rinse off.
• Only fill the tub with as much water as needed. Use less for children and pets.
• A running tap uses about 16 litres of water per minute.
• Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth. Wet your brush and use a glass for rinsing.
• Don’t rinse your razor under a running tap. Filling the basin with a little warm water is just as effective and less wasteful.
