Housing green pages - saving water

Housing green pages - saving water

The facts:

Did you know that:

• London is drier than Istanbul
• The south east of England has less water available per person than the Sudan and Syria
• We use 70% more water today then we did in 1970 so we all need to cut back and reduce the energy used to get water to our homes

Useful tips on saving water

Drop a hippo or brick in your cistern
By putting a device in your toilet cistern that displaces water, such as a hippo, you can save nearly three litres of water every time you flush, and it is easy to install – just pop it into your cistern. To order a free hippo water saving device visit: www.thameswater.co.uk (opens new window).

Fix dripping taps
A dripping tap can waste up to 15 litres of water a day, or almost 5,500 litres per year. Fitting a new washer is a cheap way of saving water and takes only a few minutes.

Run water for a shower, not when brushing teeth
Running a shower uses a twentieth of the amount of water to fill an average size bath. Running the tap while cleaning your teeth can waste nine litres of water a minute - use a glass of water to rinse 

Get a water butt
Your roof collects thousands of litres of rain water each year, which runs into the nearest drain. You can easily put it to good use by collecting some of this through a water butt to use on your garden, your houseplants and wash your car for free.

Install water-saving products
There are lots of devices now available to help you save water in your toilet cistern, bath and shower. By fitting a water efficient shower head you could save water without changing your showering habits.

Wash your car with a bucket and sponge
Using a hosepipe for just 30 minutes can use hundreds of litres of water, so try using a bucket and sponge.

To find out more about easy ways to save water visit: www.waterwise.org.uk (opens new window).

» Saving water in the garden (opens new window)
As, in hot and dry weather, water used outdoors can amount to 50 per cent of our total use, this article explains how it is possible to have a beautiful and productive garden using very little mains water.