Ten Tips For Water Conservation in Your Green Home

Water water everywhere - 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 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 water use, it's important we all get water wise in your green home.

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

Water saving tip #2 - Grey water - recycle your water 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 grey water system for your home, which can potentially collect over 300 litres of grey water a day to be re-used in the garden or in some instances, for toilet flushing.

Water saving tip # 3 - Be water smart - To be clever about your water use, water your garden in the evening. Water stored in the soil is evaporated throughout the day so to watering in the evening minimises evaporation and allows the water to penetrate the soil and feed your plants.

Water saving tip # 4 - Water Tank - A water 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 installing a water tank down.

Water saving 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.

Water saving 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 shower water use down to just 36 litres.

Water saving tip # 7 - Clean Dishes - Doing dishes by hand greatly reduces your water use, so save the dish washer for bigger jobs. Alternatively, invest in a newer water efficient dishwasher which uses about the same amount of water washing dishes by hand.

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

Water saving 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.

Water saving 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 water use.

Be water smart in your green home. For more great water and energy saving tips, check out the Green Pages, your source for going green.