Water conservation

While juggling activities in the kitchen, we often leave the tap running. Whether it's preparing food, peeling vegetables, thawing meat, or washing dishes, the kitchen tap often finds itself in constant use. But left running, the average tap uses 12 litres of water a minute! Instead, simply fill your sink with the water you need - you can even reuse this fresh water for multiple kitchen duties.

An ingrained habit in many of us, rinsing your dishes before placing them in the dishwasher may be unnecessary. If your dishwasher is reasonably modern, it should be able to clean your dishes with no pre-rinsing. If your dishes are not clean after going through the cycle, you may need to clean your filters or repair your dishwasher. If you are handwashing dishes, fill your sink rather than washing under a running tap.

A simple tap aerator on your kitchen tap can reduce the flow of water into your sink. A swivel tap aerator has two flow settings and allows you to direct the water to where it is needed. A tap aerator will reduce water use without sacrificing the water pressure of your kitchen tap. Tap aerators are an inexpensive way to save water in the kitchen and are available from hardware and plumbing stores.

When the time comes to upgrade your current dishwasher, look for a dishwasher that is water efficient. Take note of your new dishwasher's water rating. Modern dishwashers use up to 60 per cent less water than older models and much less than using the sink. Dishwashers with five-star water ratings use as little as 7 litres of water per wash.

Be conscious of your water use while cooking. Use a bowl to scrub vegetables in the kitchen sink. You can then pour the water on your plants. Also, rather than running tap water over frozen food to thaw, let it defrost in the fridge for a few hours. If you are in a hurry, the microwave is a more efficient option than running water. You can also choose healthy ways of cooking that use less water. Steaming, or using a pressure cooker, keeps more nutrients in food and saves on energy and water.

Running your kitchen tap while waiting for the water to be cold wastes many litres of water. Instead, keep water in a covered jug in the fridge. This saves running the tap to get cold water (and gives you delicious, ice-cold drinking water).

Compost or worm farm your food scraps. Waste disposal units use 30 litres of water daily.

The shower is not only the greatest water user in the bathroom, but it's responsible for 27 percent of water use in the home overall. So, reducing water use in the shower will have the most significant impact on total bathroom water savings. The average time spent in the shower is eight minutes. If every Stratford district resident reduced their shower time to five minutes, the region would save nearly 2 MILLION litres of water per week!* Using a shower timer is a great way to stay on top of shower water use.

*Calculated at 41L per 8 minute shower with 10,100 residents

Many older showerheads use a lot more water than is needed. Replacing your showerhead to one with a modern, efficient water flow rate will save water without compromising performance. Modern heads don't drop water pressure, but instead pull air into the water stream to give the same full pressure feeling while using a lot less water.

Many of us have the habit of leaving our bathroom tap running while shaving or brushing our teeth. This can use over five litres of water. By simply half filling the basin and turning the tap off while brushing our teeth or shaving, we can reduce this water use to just one litre – easy!

If your current toilet is a single-flush, you can still save water by installing a gizmo. A gizmo is a simple, inexpensive weight that hangs inside the cistern tube and stops the toilet flushing when you take your finger off the button, meaning you can control how long each flush lasts, (or put a wrapped brick in the cistern).

Use a bucket to catch surplus water in the shower while you are waiting for it to heat up. When the water has cooled down, you can use it on the garden.

Front-loading washing machines typically use about 50% less water, 35% less detergent, and 30% less energy than equivalent-sized top-loading washing machines, making them the most cost-effective and water-efficient option. You can find this out by checking the water rating label. If you have a top-loader, your best tip is to be economical in how you wash your clothes.

Another easy water-saving tip for the laundry is to use the economy settings on your washing machine. Reducing the wash to one rinse cycle rather than two will also save up to 100 litres of water per wash! That adds up if you calculate how many washes you do each year.

Don’t wash small loads - wash full loads. If you get caught out and absolutely must do a small load, make sure your washing machine settings are set for low water use. Remember: your machine will rarely default to an economy setting when switched on. You must do this manually.

When handwashing clothes, use a bucket instead of leaving the tap running. You can reuse this water on your garden straight after (avoid the vegetable patch as this water may contain microbes). Using a biodegradable detergent with low phosphorus, sodium, and nitrogen will be better for your garden.

Just because an item has been worn, doesn’t mean it requires washing. If your clothing shows no visible stains and passes the ‘smell test’ (used by mothers around the globe), hang it up for another use. This will not only save water in the laundry but also extend the life of your clothing and keep colours vibrant.

Using discarded rinse water from the washing machine, shower or dishes (still contains some soap) for the pre-clean of your car or boat saves using fresh water from a hose, then wash with a bucket of clean soapy water if still needed. If you have to use fresh water for rinsing, why not use a power washer as these can use up to 50% less water than a handheld hose and make it easier to clean those hard to reach places like inside wheel arches.

Using discarded rinse water from the washing machine, shower or dishes (still contains some soap) for the pre-clean of your windows saves using fresh water from a hose. Squeegee dry and rub clean with scrunched up newspaper and a little bit of methylated spirits will ensure those windows are sparkly clean.

Watering your garden earlier in the morning or later in the evening minimises evaporation and maximises absorption. Use a timer on your sprinklers – saves you forgetting to turn them off, and consider growing your lawn a little longer in summer.

Often we replace sections or patches of lawn throughout the year due to wear and tear or re-landscaping gardens. Purchasing a more drought resistant grass or growing plants that require less watering is a great way to conserve water over a longer period of time. Flowering shrubs and trees usually need a lot less water than annual or perennial flowers and still keep our gardens brightly coloured. Planting different flowering shrubs ensures colour all year round rather than predominately in spring/summer.

The higher the temperature the greater the amount of water that is lost to evaporation and needs replacing. Dial down the temp and save water by not topping up as often. Keeping the pool clean and filtered and dosed with salt or chlorine also means that it wont need to be emptied and refilled as frequently – even the toddlers paddling pool which can use up to 100L each time it gets emptied.

Putting a cover over the spa or pool when not in use ensures that the pool stays cleaner and warmer but it also restricts that amount of evaporation so less need to top up or refill. A light resistant cover also restricts algal growth and means the pool/spa is less likely to need to be emptied and refilled or treated with harsher or greater quantities of treatments.

Diverting rainwater from the roof either directly to gardens and ponds or into a collection barrel can save wasting fresh water when watering the garden. Many businesses have safe, empty 200L drums which once cleaned and decorated can be an appealing feature in any garden and serve as a great water conservation tool. Attaching a tap at the bottom makes easy access to the stored water and means extra water available in drier times.