What can we do to reduce our water usage

It seems that no matter what happens, there are going to be drought orders in the south of England within the next few months (although the amount of rain we've had of late, drought is the last thing on most people's minds).

Yes, the water boards have a lot to do to reduce the amount of water wasted by them (be it through leaking pipes or washing their buildings.....) but what can we easily do in the house without spending any money at all?

Lots of things.. don't run the tap while cleaning your teeth; put a bottle of water in the cistern of your toilet to stop it taking so much water to fill; use the water that you "waste" when waiting for hot water to rinse the dishes or wash out a cloth, collect it to water the plants in the house or garden....

Then there's using the dishwasher - what's best, that or doing the dishes by hand? Well that varies from one model to another, but more than anything else it depends on how much you put in the machine. Make sure you don't waste a cycle (same with the washing machine) by only half filling it. And if, like me, you have lots of things that can't go in the dish washer, then don't just wash those by hand, but keep going until the water is too cold / pasts use for cleaning. You may find there's nothing left for the dish washer after that. Another important thing is not to put it to rinse after each item has been added.... what a waste!

If you've lots of plants to water outside, use washing up water (especially if you use a "green" detergent such as Ecover... in fact this is another reason for using green products). Yes, it takes a while to get into the swing of doing it, but in time you'll get used to it. Reply to this article / Report this article
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