Footprints

Top Tips For Saving Water At Home

The energy used to pump, treat and heat the water in the average family's home produces the carbon equivalenet of a return flight from London to New York.

Try these top water saving tips from Waterwise – you’ll be surprised at just how easy it is to save water, energy and money.

Stock up A typical cooking pot will hold around 4 litres of water, so once you’ve boiled your veggies, why not re-use the water to make stocks or soups. Or, pour it on your garden when it’s cooled!

Washed up A running tap uses 6 litres or water per minute whereas the average washing up bowl uses 8 litres of water each time. So use a washing up bowl to do your dishes instead of just a running tap and you’ll save water.

Forget the pre-wash Using detergent with advanced cleaning technology means you’ll no longer have to pre-wash your load, meaning you’ll use less water. By reducing the need to pre-wash, together we could save nearly 100 million litres of water every week. 

Water babies Start your kids off early by teaching them simple water saving tips like turning taps off and showering rather than bathing where ever possible. It’s easier to get them started early than try to change habits later.

Stop those drips Fixing a dripping tap can save as much as 5000 litres a year - if everyone in the UK fixed their dripping taps we would save enough water to supply 120,000 homes for one day. 

Be prepared Check out where your main stop valve is and make sure that you can turn it on and off. If ever a pipe bursts, you'll know how to cut off the flow straight away.

The bucket and sponge approach Rather than washing your car with a running hosepipe, try using a bucket and sponge instead. (Better still; fill the bucket with water from the water butt). Just 30 minutes with a hosepipe will use about 500 litres, which is more water than the average family uses in a day. And, using a bucket will give your car a much more precise wash and only uses about 35 litres in total.