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Ten Tips For Water Conservation in Your Green Home

News   05-24-2011 by Administrator   (0)

Your home uses hundreds of litres of water a day. Needless to say, water conservation, especially in Australia, is essential to ensure the health of our arid landscape. Even if you live in an eco friendly home, you'd be amazed at just how much water you use in a day.

In a standard household, toilet flushing is the number one user of household water, with 12 litres being drained away every time you flush. Meanwhile, a single 10 minute shower uses 200 litres, a load of washing can use up to 150 litres, a stack of dirty dishes in an average dishwasher uses about 50 litres and your average drinking, cooking and cleaning uses about 10 litres per day!

With all these daily household activities taking their toll on our resources, it's important we all get water wise in your green home.

Tip #1 - Tap your water - for less than $5 you can install a low flow tap fitting. These mesh washers are easy to install and can bring your water consumption down by as much as 50 per cent.

Tip #2 - Recycle - recycle when possible. Put a bucket in the shower to collect warm up water to re-use in the garden. For a long term investment, consider installing a greywater system for your home, which can potentially collect over 300 litres of greywater a day to be re-used in the garden or in some instances, for toilet flushing.

Tip #3 - Be smart - Water your garden in the evening. Moisture stored in the soil is evaporated throughout the day so watering in the evening minimises evaporation and allows it to penetrate the soil and feed your plants.

Tip #4 - Tank it - A tank can be installed for just around $1000 and can collect thousands of litres of water from your roof. Look into government rebates to help bring the cost of installation down.

Tip #5 - Fill 'er up - Do laundry only when you have a full load. The same goes for dishes if you're using a dishwasher.

Tip #6 - Power Shower - The best showers are short and sweet. With a AAA rated showerhead and a four minute limit, you can bring your usage down to just 36 litres.

Tip #7 - Clean Dishes - Doing dishes by hand greatly reduces use, so save the dishwasher for bigger jobs. Alternatively, invest in a newer more efficient dishwasher which uses about the same amount as washing dishes by hand.

Tip #8 - Pool Talk - Cover your pool to minimise evaporation and keep its temperature warm enough for a quick winter dip.

Tip #9- Cut out leaks - A leaking faucet adds up. One drop per second can add up to over 1500 litres of water a year. A steady stream will do away with over 300,000 litres a year. Inspect your taps and cut out those leaks.

Tip #10 - On the loo - Check to see if your toilet cistern is leaking and invest in a water saving loo. Otherwise, put a brick or a filled water bottle in the cistern to minimise use.

Be water smart in your green home.

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