Cultivate Water Saving Habits
Water saving habits are those easy-to-learn daily behaviours that can save us thousands of litres (and dollars) over our lives.
Thousands of litres of pure fresh water are wasted every day by bad habits that some of us have developed - and some times don't even realise. Hence, while the water we use in the home may seem trivial (only 7% of all water used in Australia) its conservation is a step toward increasing our knowledge and respect for our water resources - a resource all the living systems around us also rely on.
How to do it now!
Adjust your daily habits to save litres of clean fresh water (and dollars) every day.
- Brushing your teeth. Use a glass of water instead of a running tap for wetting the brush and rinsing. A running tap can waste about 16 litres of water each minute.
- Washing your body. Take a shower instead of a bath and limit your showers to a maximum of four minutes.
- Shaving - Use a cup, sink or container of warm water to clean the shaver in rather than a warm running tap. Never shave in the shower.
- Clearing dishes after the meal. Scrape and compost your food waste instead of rinsing it off plates and dishes.
- Washing dishes. Rinse dishes in a bucket and use the water on the garden afterwards.
- Packing the dishwasher. Don't rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher (that's what the machine is for).
- Washing clothes. Ensure you only do full loads of washing, if possible using cold water and adjusting water levels to suit the size of loads.
- Waiting for the warm water to arrive. Try and capture the water that flows out of the shower or tap prior to it being the right temperature and put it on the garden.
- Fix dripping taps and toilets quickly. They can waste up to 13 litres of water a day.
To learn a new habit requires a few simple steps:
- Decide as a household the habits you're going to establish and ensure everyone is on board.
- Set up reminders: try notes on the fridge and on the light switches. Empower the kids to dob you in (they'll love it).
- Do the habit consciously for a week, then two, then it should be established and your unconscious will keep it going.
- At the end of each water billing period note the savings and reward yourselves.
Why this action is important?
Fresh water is the lifeblood of nature. Without it, we would not have clean air, food, drink and many aesthetic and recreational benefits. Therefore, we need to ensure we use water in a sustainable way. We need to use water in a way that enables future generations to have access to fresh water. In addition conserving our water resources conserves our natural resources.