It may surprise you to know that in the UK, the average person uses 150 litres of water per day. We are using more water than ever before and before long we may find ourselves with a global shortage.
We’ve written loads about saving water over the years but we thought it might be useful to pull all the tips together!
Let’s start with the most obvious…
Take showers instead of having baths, when possible.
- Obviously we all like to luxuriate sometimes, but this is the number one way to save water so it’s worth thinking about. If you have a water metre, you’re paying extra on that and on your energy bill for heating it!
- On that note, there are several inexpensive gadgets you can buy to reduce the amount of water your shower uses. You could try an aerated shower head, which keeps pressure up whilst reducing the amount of water coming out. It can save up to half the water and if you choose a good shower head, you probably won’t even notice the difference.
Check for leaks from pipework or taps
- A lot of water can be wasted this way over the course of a day – up to 15 litres!
- Also check you don’t have a slow leak from your cistern by putting a couple of drops of food colouring in there and checking half an hour later to see if it has flowed into the toilet bowl.
Check your use of appliances
- If you replace your washing machine, look for a water efficient model. Or use your existing one a little more carefully. Make sure it always has a full load in it when you turn it on. Some have ‘eco’ modes you can make use of; these either run a longer cycle at a lower temperature or heat the water to the same temperature, but more slowly.
- A full dishwasher is probably going to be more efficient than washing up by hand.
- Look for a low-flush or at least a double-flush toilet to ensure you’re not wasting water in such a pointless way. You could also retrofit an existing toilet by placing something like a brick or a weighted bottle in the tank – this is a displacement technique meaning that it can’t fill up with so much water.
Install a water butt in the garden
- You could cut your tap water usage a lot by just watering your plants with harvested rainwater. Plants prefer it too!
So there they are… Some pretty easy ways to save money on your bills and cut your environmental footprint!
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