Reducing water consumption is easy!

The average household can use 40% less water without any noticeable sacrifice. All that is actually required is a willingness to change certain habits developed at a time where this resource seemed limitless.

And if water truly is a "gift of nature", the following figures of daily water consumption per person show that it benefits some more than others:

Why save water ?

Saving water has several major benefits:

• Less water drawn from our lakes and rivers
• Reduced pollution
• Less wastewater
• Less wear and tear on the municipal equipment that carries and filters our wastewater.

Of course, the more people who pitch in, the greater the savings in terms of water, energy and money!

The Solutions

1. Car washing
2. Garden
3. Toilets  
4. Showers and baths
5. Taps
6. Washing machines
7. Leaks
8. At work
9. Interesting facts
10. Learn more

1. Car Washing

a) Problem:
Using a running hose to wash a car can "cost" about 400 litres of water.

b) Solutions:

• Use a hose with a trigger nozzle.
• Use a bucket with a sponge  - you'll save some 300 litres of blue gold.

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2. The Garden

a) Problem:
More than 50% of the water we used for our lawns and gardens is lost due to evaporation or run-off.

b) Solutions:

• Water only when necessary.
• Water early in the morning (once the dew has dried) or in the evening to reduce the losses due to evaporation.
• Find out how much water your lawn or garden really needs. Most gardens are happy with1 inch of water per week.
• Collect rainwater in a barrel or a rain cistern (tip: keep it covered to prevent mosquito breeding).
• Downsize your lawn and replace exotic plants by native and adaptive plants that use less water and are more resistant to local plant diseases and pests.

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3. The Toilet

a) Problem:
This is generally the point of use where the most water is wasted in the house. A traditional toilet uses 18 litres per cycle. If each of us flushes the toilet water 4 ½ times per day, that would translates into nearly 30,000 litres of clean fresh water per year per person.

 b) Solutions:

• Avoid using the toilet as a wastebasket and don't flush unnecessarily. As Dustin Hoffman aptly put it in Meet the Fockers, "If it's yellow, let it mellow!"
• Check that your toilet doesn't run by pouring a few drops of food colouring into the tank. If the water in the toilet bowl becomes coloured after a few minutes, it means that there is a leak  - and that can use up to 200,000 litres a year!
• When it comes time to change the toilet, choose an ultra-low-volume (ULV) model that has a 6-litre rather than an 18-litre tank. This translates into water savings of 70% (a little under 20,000 litres a year per person), not to mention 70% less wastewater to process.

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4. Showers and baths

a) Problem:
After the toilet, the shower and the bath use the most water in the house. An average shower, for example, consumes between 15 and 20 litres per minute. In other words, a 10-minute shower can take some 200 litres of water-as much as a Sub-Saharan African uses in 10 days. It takes approximately 75 litres of water to fill a standard bath (more for oversize bathtubs, of course).

b) Solutions:

• Take shorter showers.
• Buy a low-flow showerhead (available at most hardware stores). This can save about half the amount of water you typically use without sacrificing any comfort. A family of four can thus save as much as 75,000 litres a year!
• Choose a showerhead with a start-stop button. This allow you to turn off the water while you soap up or shampoo, then turn it on again at the same pressure and temperature.
• Take showers rather than baths. Reserve baths for special occasions. 

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5. Taps

a) Problem:
Traditional taps have an average flow of 13.5 litres per minute which is generally at least twice as much as needed.

b) Solutions:

• Turn the tap off while brushing your teeth or shaving.
• Install low-flow faucet aerators that can cut water use in half. Approximately 6 litres per minute are enough in the bathroom and between 6 and 9 litres per minute are enough in the kitchen.

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6. Washers and dishwashers

a) Problem:
These machines use considerable amounts of water.

b) Solutions:

• Use washers and dishwashers for full loads only. 
• When replacing your dishwasher or washing machine, consider water-saving models. A front-load washer, for example, can use up to 40% less water and 50% less energy. 
• Check with your municipality or regional district to find out if they offer rebates to install water- and energy-efficient washing machines.

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7. Leaks

a) Problem:
A drop of water per second can represent 10,000 litres of water wasted per year.

b) Solution:
Most leaks are easy to locate and repair and usually costs very little to do so.

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8. Water at work

Since most of these tips on how to save water at home apply to the workplace, you can also do your share there, even encouraging your colleagues to use less water in the washrooms and the kitchens. These "best practices" could even turn out to be relevant to production or clearing processes that are used in your workplace. 

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10. Learn more...

Water use in the home
More Water Conservation Tips
Drip calculator
H2OUSE - Water Saver Home (Complete with a home tour of water-saving opportunities and a water budget calculator)

 

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