WATER SAVING TIPS
1. Check your toilet for leaks.
Put a few drops of
food colouring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing, the colouring begins
to appear in the bowl, you have a leak that may be wasting more than 100
gallons [378 litres] of water a day.
2. Stop using your
toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket
Every cigarette butt
or tissue you flush away also flushes away five to seven gallons [26.5 litres]
of water.
3. Put a plastic
bottle in your toilet tank
Put an inch or two
of sand or pebbles in the bottom of a one litre bottle to weigh it down. Fill
the rest of the bottle with water and put it in your toilet tank, safely away
from the operating mechanism. In an average home, the bottle may save five
gallons [19 litres] or more of water every day without harming the efficiency of the
toilet. If your tank is big enough, you may even be able to put in two bottles. Also, remember if it is yellow, let it
mellow. If it is brown, flush it
down. This is a good mantra to follow
to help save water.
4. Take shorter
showers
A typical shower
uses five to ten gallons [19 to 38 litres] of water a minute. Limit your
showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rise off.
5. Install
water-saving shower heads or flow restrictors
Your hardware or
plumbing supply store stocks inexpensive shower heads or flow restrictors that
will cut your shower flow to about three gallons a minute instead of five to
ten. They are easy to install, and your showers will still be cleansing and
refreshing.
6. Take baths
A partially filled
tub uses less water than all but the shortest showers.
7. Turn off the
water while brushing your teeth
Before brushing, wet
your brush and fill a glass for rinsing your mouth.
8. Turn off the
water while shaving
Fill the bottom of
the sink with a few inches of warm water in which to rinse your razor.
9. Check faucets
and pipes for leaks
Even a small drip
can waste 50 or more gallons [189 litres] of water a day.
10. Use your
automatic dishwasher for full loads only
Every time you run
your dishwasher, you use about 25 gallons [95 litres] of water.
11. Use your automatic washing machine only for full loads
Your automatic
washer uses 30 to 35 gallons [113-133 litres] per cycle.
12. Don't let the
tap run while you clean vegetables
Rinse your
vegetables instead in a bowl or sink full of clean water.
13. Keep a bottle
of drinking water in the refrigerator
This puts a stop to
the wasteful practice of running tap water to cool it for drinking.
14. If you wash
dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing
If you have two
sinks, part fill one with rinse water. If you have only one sink, first gather all
your washed dishes in a dish rack, then rinse them quickly with a spray device
or a pan of water.
15. Check faucets
and pipes for leaks
Leaks waste water,
24 hours a day, seven days a week. An inexpensive washer is usually enough to
stop them.
16. Water your
lawn only when it needs it
Watering on a
regular schedule doesn't allow for cool spells or rainfall which reduce the
need for watering. Step on some grass. If it springs back up when you move your
foot, it doesn't need water.
17. Deep-soak your
lawn
When you do water
your lawn, water it long enough for water to seep down to the roots where it is
needed. A light sprinkling that sits on the surface will simply evaporate and
be wasted, especially if done during the daylight hours.
18. Water during
the cool parts of the day
Early morning is
better than dusk since it helps prevent the growth of fungus.
19. Don't water
the gutter
Position your
sprinklers so that water lands on your lawn or garden, not in areas where it
does no good. Also, avoid watering on windy days when much of your water may be
carried off to the streets and sidewalks.
20. Plant
drought-resistant trees and plants
Many beautiful trees
and plants thrive without irrigation. If
your garden is established, it should not need daily watering. Irrigation systems can use a lot of water:
|
Type of system |
Time per day |
No times a week |
Consumption |
|
Irrigation system |
15 mins x 8 zones |
2 |
15,360 gall [58,144 L] |
|
Sprinkler |
1 hour |
3 |
12,240 gall [46,333 L] |
21. Put a layer of
mulch around trees and plants.
Mulch slows the
evaporation of moisture.
22. Use a broom to
clean driveways, sidewalks and steps
Using a hose wastes
hundreds and hundreds of gallons [378+ litres] of water.
23. Don't run the
hose while washing your car
Soap down your car
from a pail of soapy water. Use a hose only to rinse it off.
24. Tell your
children not to play with the hose and sprinklers
Children love to
play under a hose or sprinkler on a hot day. Unfortunately, this practice is
extremely wasteful of precious water and should be discouraged.
25. Check for
leaks in pipes, hoses faucets and couplings
Leaks outside the
house are easier to ignore since they since they don't mess up the floor or
keep you awake at night. However, they can be even more wasteful than inside
water leaks especially when they occur on your main water line. Remember if you have a leak, this needs
immediate attention. If it is on your
side of the meter, you are responsible for it.
If the leak is before the meter, then this is the responsibility of your
local council.
26. Swimming Pools
Backwashing
your pool is not required on a weekly
basis. It should only be done
when necessary, no more than once a month, depending on the condition of the
pool. Some pool cleaners backwash pools
more often than needed, but they don’t have the resulting water bill! To see if your pool needs backwashing –
check the jets into the pool, if they seem weak, then backwashing is probably
required. Also look on the gauge on your
filter – if this is ‘in the red’ then backwashing will be required. Backwashing uses between 250 and 1,000 gallons
[946 to 3,785 litres] of water, depending on the size and type of equipment you
have.
To
backwash, you should not run this for more than 30 seconds, then a further 30
seconds to rinse. There is absolutely no
need to run a backwash for 4 or 5 minutes – all that is happening is you are losing
a larger quantity of water which will need to be replaced.
Please
remember that it is illegal to fill an empty swimming pool with drinking water. It is, in any event, cheaper to order a water
bowser to fill the pool.
If
you have an infinity pool, then these use more water especially in hot weather. If you have a solar cover, then this will
help reduce water consumption, but is likely to affect the chemical balance of
your pool.
