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Reducing Water Use In The Home

We have been renovating our own house to try out the various environmentally friendly products, technologies and services available.  Our first project in 2006 was to reduce our water consumption, an issue that had been highlighted through Carol’s work in Defra.

Water resources in the UK are limited and, according to The Water Book by Judith Thornton, in some parts of the country abstraction regimes for groundwater and surface water are unsustainable or there are no additional resources beyond those already being exploited.  The average water use in the UK is 150 litres per person per day and a third of this is flushed down the toilet, i.e. 50 litres of drinking quality water.  This is water that has taken energy and resources to produce that we are putting straight into the sewer.

We wanted to ensure we did not waste water but did not want to be restricted only to showers as it can be nice to have a long soak in the bath.  However, baths can be the next biggest user of water in the home after toilet flushing.  A shower provided it is not a Power Shower and provided it is not run for a long period, generally uses less water than a bath.  Our compromise on bathing was to install a smaller bath, with a 'waist', that reduced the volume by about one-third, whilst still being very comfortable.  We also installed a shower head that uses less water but has the effect of feeling like a normal shower.

We also installed an Ido ultra-low dual flush toilet that uses 2.5 litres of water for the low flush and 4 litres for a full flush.  The effectiveness of such a low volume flush was due to the pan design and this product was better than others using higher volumes of water.  Our toilet had to be imported from Denmark as there was nothing this water-efficient available from mainstream outlets in the UK at the time.  Since then this has changed and similar products are available providing substantial savings on water consumption.

We also made other changes, such as ensuring that we had water efficient devices in the kitchen too.  We fitted a lever tap with a brake, so that if you lift the lever part way you get a spray that is suitable for washing your hands.  If you want to fill a bowl or saucepan quickly then lift the lever fully to get a flow of water.  We also have a water efficient washing machine.

Outside in the garden we do not water the lawn during dry weather – there is no point, once it rains the grass comes back again as it is adapted for dry conditions.  We do have some pots and grow a few vegetables from seed; these are watered from our rain barrels.  However, we do not just have one rain barrel on a down-pipe; we have 2 rain barrels in sequence on each down-pipe so as to make the most of rain running off roofs.

There are other changes you can make to reduce your water use without spending a penny!  We found this when we did a water use audit before we had made any changes to our fittings, just the process of monitoring meant we were more careful about how much water we used.

If you check your water company website you will find some water saving tips and they may even be offering devices to help you reduce your water consumption.  Easy things you can do are:

• Use a Save-A-Flush or Hippo in your cistern, but do not use this if your toilet does not flush properly as a result;
• Shower rather than bath, although an occasional long soak is OK;
• For cooler water turn the hot tap down;
• When cleaning your teeth use a mug and do not leave the tap running;
• Put a plug in the sink or use a bowl when washing fruit and vegetables;
• Use the dishwasher for full loads only and the bowl for smaller amounts of washing up, but remember not to leave the tap running for rinsing;
• A full load in the washing machine uses less water than two half loads;
• Store tap water in the fridge for a cool drink;
• Fill the kettle only to the amount needed, this saves energy too;
• Use the water meter to check for leaks and fix dripping taps and leaks.