Looking for ways to cut back on your expenses and help the environment? Try these eco-friendly ways to save water.
Why we save water
There are many good reasons for adopting eco-friendly ways to save water. By changing your approach and adopting eco-friendly ways to save water, you’re playing your part in protecting our planet’s most precious resource. You’re also saving your household money. You’re not, however, simply serving your own needs. By adopting eco-friendly ways to save water, you’re helping the whole world. If all of us put saving water first, we’d be equipped to conserve the world’s water supply and safeguard against potential disasters in the future.
Start to save water
If you’re looking for eco-friendly ways to save water, you can start in your home, right now! A simple inspection of each tap and fitting in your home will help you begin transitioning to a new, eco-friendly way of life. We recommend:
- Checking every tap: Taps are, strangely enough, complex pieces of machinery that can become fragile or brittle over time. In particular, a perished washer or faulty inner mechanism can result in a big drip of a water leak. According to the USGS, leaving just one tap to drip, could result in a loss of 18 litres or more, of water, every day. Set aside some time to check on each and every tap in and around your home (yes, the taps in the garden too!). Call in a plumber if you need to replace or repair any of your taps.
- Checking your toilets: Ensure there are no leaks, or water constantly running into the toilet bowl.
- Checking your geyser: Your home’s geyser consumes a lot of your household water and electricity. Any sort of fault or problem with your geyser could result in water loss, or other problems. Checking your geyser is working effectively, and efficiently, is important. You should check your geyser at least once a year.
- Checking your appliances: The water consumption of your appliances can seem almost invisible. You may not even notice a problem with your washing machine, dishwasher, or other appliances, until there’s a water leak. Make sure to check on all your appliances that use water, to ensure they’re functioning well.
- Conducting a water meter check: Ensuring there are no water leaks throughout your home is another eco-friendly way to save water. Undetected water leaks can wreak havoc on your utility bills, while eroding your soil, home foundations, and causing all sorts of other issues. To conduct a water meter check, turn off your home’s main water supply. Then flip open your water meter, and write down the current reading. Give it an hour or two, and go back to check on your water meter reading. If there’s been any move in the numbers, your home has a water leak. If there’s no movement, then you can turn your home’s main water supply back on with confidence. If a water leak has been detected, it’s time to call in the professionals.
Save water when you build
If you’re planning to expand your home, build a new home, or renovate your current home, you can do it in an eco-friendly way. Adopting eco-friendly ways to save water while you build can have a big impact on your building’s carbon footprint. Moreover, it could work out to be cheaper than if you didn’t adopt eco-friendly ways to save water. Known as the practice of “deconstruction”, building and renovating your home using repurposed and recycled materials is definitively eco-friendly. By repurposing items or using recycled materials, your eco-friendly construction approach sends ripples through the chain of water needed to enable your construction. This approach enables water saving at every level of construction.
Save water with what you build
If you’re expanding your home’s facilities, or looking to turn your home into more of an eco-friendly environment, consider what you build or how you add on to your home. Eco-friendly additions to your home could boost the property’s value, and help you save money in many ways. If you’re looking to save water in the long run, we suggest:
- Installing a water tank: A water tank not only helps you save water, it saves you money too. By installing a water tank to create a backup supply of water for your home, you move closer towards achieving the dream of off-grid living.
- Starting a rainwater harvesting system: No matter how rudimentary or advanced your rainwater harvesting system may be, there’s no escaping the cost benefits: saving rainwater saves you money. If you’re happy to start small, simply put a few buckets out during a downpour, and use them to water your garden or wash the car. You’ll notice a distinct decrease in your water bills when you start harvesting rainwater. If you’re keen to go big with your rainwater harvesting efforts, consult with a professional who specialises in water conservation.
Save water outdoors
Adopting eco-friendly ways to save water as an everyday practice can save you oodles of money, while helping to preserve this precious resource. We all know that shorter showers, avoiding long baths, and turning the tap off as we brush our teeth are important eco-friendly ways to save water. If, however, you’re looking for additional eco-friendly ways to save water, we recommend you consider new ways to make your garden water-wise. Turning your garden water-wise is as simple as:
- Selecting only indigenous plants: Indigenous plants consume the least amount of water within their correct environment, which means your garden maintenance task list just grew smaller too. Succulent plants are particularly great for helping you save water in your garden.
- Cut back on your lawn: Rolling grass lawns can be a drain on your water supply. Think of different ways to create spaces for play in your garden, including footpaths, pebbled areas, or similar facilities
- Wax your watering skills: Whether you use a sophisticated irrigation system, or water your plants the good old-fashioned way, always ensure you never water your garden when it’s windy. Always water your plants towards the end of the day.