We all know the usual water saving advice of turning off the tap while brushing our teeth and having shorter showers. We have gone out of our way to come up with some new and somewhat different tips:
1.) Don’t tip your leftover water down the sink. Whether you are cooking pasta or vegetables, have a glass of water leftover or some old drinking water. Save it and use it to water your gardens in the evening. Vegetables release valuable nutrients while getting cooked, it will be good for your plants.
2.) Don’t let the shower water go down the drain. Ok, we admit it, this one is a bit out there, but give it a go. You know, when you turn on the shower and then realise you don’t have a towel, one of the kids is calling you and it’s 4 minutes before you finally hop under the running water? Just put a couple of buckets in until you are ready. Use the water around the yard.
3.) Don’t let the water running while you shave. Fill up the sink with a bit of water and rinse out your razor while you shave.
4.) Don’t use your insinkerator. These take a large amount of water to use. Leave it off and instead start as compost. All food scraps can go to better use by becoming compost and giving their nutrients back to your garden a couple of months down the track.
5.) Don’t pre-rinse dishes. Scrape all food scraps into compost and fill up your dishwasher without pre-rinsing your dishes. Most modern dishwashers can handle it.
6.) Keep a couple of bottles of water in the fridge. Letting the water ‘run-cold’ before you start filling your glass is incredible wasteful. Be good, have cold water on stand-by.
7). Going on an adventure? Take an empty bottle and a water filtration system like a “LifeStraw”. Fill your bottles with river water and filter it before drinking.
8.) Don’t water your paths. Make sure all sprinklers aim at grass and plant area ONLY. Additionally, ensure you only water when it’s not too windy and either early in the morning after late evening.
9). Ensure a good soak for your lawn. There is little point in just giving the lawn a quick “splash” as the water will quickly evaporate and encourage a shallow root-system. Soak the lawn well so the roots can soak the water up from deep below.
10). Install a rain barrel. Install a barrel to catch rain water and use it for gardening, filling the paddling pool and other small water jobs.
11). Keep an eye on your electricity usage. Powerplants use thousands of litres of water to cool, if you ensure less electricity usage you indirectly decrease water usage.
12). Shop smart. All products need water to be produced. Don’t buy more than you need and be conscious of all other purchases.
Let’s at least try and implement some of these and continue to do better!
