December 29, 2013, by Helen Whitehead
Countdown #29: Five top tips to save water
Georgina Wood gives us her top tips for saving water at home:
- Put the plug in the sink when washing your face or brushing your teeth
- Fill up the washing machine and/or the dishwasher each time they’re used
- Take shorter showers instead of baths
- Wash fruit and vegetable in a dish or pan of water instead of running water from the tap.
- Use a water butt to collect rainwater for the garden
How many litres of water do we use each day? Select the line below to find the answer!
150 litres
Do you know more ways? Join us on The University of Nottingham MOOC Sustainability, Society and You on January 6th and let us know!
Rather than putting a plug in the sink, to save water when I brush my teeth (?) I only turn the tap on when I’ve finished brushing to quickly clean the brush head then turn it off again. Turn it on to scoop up a handful of water to rinse out my mouth and turn it off again. Saves a whole lot of water that way.
When I need to fill up a sink/washing up bowl with hot water, I run the water into empty water bottles until it comes out the right temp, then use the saved water to rinse out the sink, bath or basin after cleaning, or for the garden, or pop the water in a microwave to warm up for hot water bottles.
I also keep a jug by the kettle so that any boiled water that has been standing around for a while goes into the jug for rinsing the kitchen sink.
I live in dry area in the south of Argentina and usually i colector the water of the rain to watering my plants because the water here is very expensive. Furthermore i designed a water system that allow to reduce the consume of water.
Is incredible that in my area, the town throws the dirty water into the river instead of use this water to irrigate square and free areas (being this dry).
In the UK most of us do not appreciate the strength of our water supply. Very seldom do we experience the issues you probably face on a regular basis. But even so, as I have a large garden, I have 4 water butts + old buckets that I collect water in.
And I never wash my car! This may be for reasons other than sustainability!
A Great idea for garden water that my parents use is to feed all the rainwater from the house roof into a large underground tank – they use a network of old food grade industrial plastic “water butts” having hired a mini-digger and skip to do the hole. A small water pump sends the water to a garden tap. The pump switch is next to the tap and the water is kept sweet with an old fridge motor bubbling air through it for ten mins a day on a time switch. They save water and get a doubly reduced water bill as the rain water now does not go down the sewer for treatment by the water company. Thats what I call local sustainable drainage and flood prevention. The same system could also be used for flushing the toilets with “brown water”
I try to only boil enough water for whatever needed but If there is any hot water left in kettle after boiling it can be put in a flask for another cuppa later