Tips for your house

  • Only boil as much water as you need in your kettle - Overfilling can use twice as much energy and water, every time you boil.
  • Try to only turn on your washing machine for a full load - Two half loads uses more water than one full load.
  • Put a jug of tap water into the fridge - This uses less water than letting the tap run cold each time you want a drink.
  • Fill a watering can or attach a trigger nozzle if you are in the garden watering your plants - Also, watering early in the morning or late in the afternoon will reduce evaporation.
  • Try the 4 minute shower challenge - To try and save water, put on your favourite 4 minute song and see if you can finish before the end.
  • Fix your leaking taps - A dripping tap can waste more than 60 litres of water per week.
  • Use a bowl for washing vegetables - As a bonus, you can use this water to water your plants afterwards.
  • Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth - A running tap can use 6 litres of water per minute.
  • Check to ensure your toilet is not leaking - If you can hear a flow of water when the toilet hasn’t been flushed or can see a slight but constant trickle at the back of the toilet pan, you may have a leak.

 

Tips for your garden

  • Stop using garden hose pipes and sprinklers. Use a watering can instead of a hose to water plants. A hose uses more water in one hour than the average family uses in the whole day!
  • Use swimming/paddling pools and hot tubs sparingly. Filling a 12ft swimming pool in your back yard uses the water for 500 people’s daily handwashing. 
  • Lawns are great survivors - a sprinkler can use as much as 1,000 litres of clean drinking water in a single hour; more than a family of four would use in a whole day. Even when they look dry and brown, they’ll spring back with the first heavy rain, so avoid watering them wherever possible.
  • Be pot savvy - If you’re potting up or planting containers, use ones made from plastic, glazed terracotta or wood. These tend to lose less water than bare terracotta. Bury a short length of pipe into your pot; if you water into the tube the water goes directly to the roots where the plant needs it most
  • Mulch weeds away - Use mulches like bark chips or gravel to retain moisture and keep weeds down
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