Reducing Water Wastage Wastage

Check for any leaks
All people should know that leaks in taps, pipes, and dishwasher hoses can amount to over 2,000 litres of water per month to be wasted. The first step to be taken to reduce water wastage is to check and repair any leaks in your house. This will not only help you to save money but you will also be saving the environment. It is recommended to buy water efficient taps and insert flow restrictors in your bathroom sink taps that will ensure that you are not wasting any water while the tap is running. You can install aerated or optimised-flow shower heads as they use less water per minute. These methods help in reducing the volume of water running from the tap. Make sure that the taps are well closed after use, if a running tap drops water each second this will amount to a lot of water being wasted. To make sure that willingly or unwillingly no water is being wasted, it is recommended to use a water meter to check for water leaks.

Saving in the Kitchen
In the kitchen always use full loads in your dishwasher. Or if you don\’t have a dishwasher, fill a basin with water and rinse the soapy dishes from it instead of washing up under a running tap. This water can later be used to flower your plants. And also always make sure that your washing machine is full before you switch it on. As far as possible do not use the pre-wash setting on your washing machine and this will help you save 15 litres per cycle.

Saving in the Bathrooms
Another place in the house where lots of water is used is in toilets and bathrooms. 40% of all the water used in a household is being flushed down in the toilet. However this wastage can be prevented by using low flush or dual flush tanks. For a dual-flush tank, the first flush uses only a percentage of water as compared to a full flush. Take a shower instead of a bath as bath-tabs consume more water than a shower. Another method of preventing wastage is to decrease your shower by one minute. This may not mean a lot to you but the amount of water saved will be a lot.

You can also control the pressure of water running through your taps, as excessive water pressure contributes to waste, as more water goes to waste while taps are left running to wash hands and brush teeth. To prevent this wastage, you can buy a range of pressure-reducing valves that can reduce water consumption in your houses.

Additional Reading:
http://www.waterwise.org.uk/reducing_water_wastage_in_the_uk71200.htm
http://www.greenenergyhelpfiles.com/articles/13.htm
http://lifeasiknowit22.blogspot.com/2009/05/ways-to-reduce-water-wastage-in-home.html

Image Credit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnanugraha/416348552/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/craigjewell/1165108071/