It’s easier to learn good habits when you’re young, and one
really good habit to get into is saving water. In the UK, especially in winter,
it’s easy to think that there’s too much water around anyway, but the fact is
that globally we do use too much water. Learning how to save water in our
everyday lives will help us, and our children, to conserve one of Earth’s most
valuable natural resources.
Here are five simple ways that you and your children can
save water every day.
1. Turn Off the Taps
Whether you’re washing your hands or brushing your teeth,
don’t just let the water carry on running down the drain. If you turn the tap
off while you’re not actually rinsing your hands or your toothbrush, you can
save most of the water you would otherwise use.
2. Turn Off the Taps
Tightly
Make sure that when you do turn the tap off, it’s off!
Leaking and dripping taps can waste large amounts of water over time,
especially if you don’t notice them at first. Get into the habit of checking
the taps are tightly off before you leave the bathroom, and teach your children
to do so too.
3. Bath Time for
Babies
When it’s time to give your baby a bath, use only an inch or
two of water. For safety reasons, you shouldn’t be giving your babies a deep
bath anyway, so this is a great way to save water and to be really safe. As
your children get older, encourage them to have quick showers, not baths -
filling up a bathtub takes a lot of water. Set a good example by having showers
yourself. Children will follow their parents’ example in all sorts of ways.
4. Save “Old Water”
Encourage your children to collect water from almost
finished bottles, half-finished drinks or from boiling eggs - once it’s cooled
down, of course. You can use this saved water to water your grass and your garden
instead of using your sprinkler or your hosepipe. There’s a reason we have
hosepipe bans in hot dry summers - they use a lot of water! If you save up your
old drinks and cooking water, you will soon be keeping your garden green
without breaking any bans. Also, using old water in a watering can is much more
efficient than using a hosepipe.
Install a water butt under your drainpipe. You can’t drink
the water (although the animals will), but you can use it to wash your car,
water the plants and even wash your windows. Dirty water pumps can get water out of ponds,
ditches and rain barrels to be used efficiently on your garden.
5. Don’t Flush
Sometimes you have to flush! But modern toilets are fitted
with two sizes of flush to begin with. So train your children to use the
lighter flush if they’ve only had a wee. If you have small children who use the
toilet frequently, they don’t have to flush every time. Flushing your toilet
uses up to five gallons of water
every time, so frequent flushing can use up a lot of water, especially if you
have a young family. You can also get a “cistern displacement unit” to fit in
your cistern to reduce the amount of water used each flush. These are available
from your water provider.
Using less water is energy-efficient. It takes a lot of
energy to clean wastewater, or “greywater” as it is known, once it’s in the
sewage system. It takes a lot of energy to heat water, so it makes sense to be
frugal with your hot tap. If you’re on a water meter, then these five simple
tips can save you a surprising amount of money.
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