With an eye on both reducing the demand for water and increasing revenue streams, many municipalities around South Africa have hiked certain water rates enormously over the past financial year (in some cases to the tune of 30%). Combine this with the ratings downgrades and painfully slow economic growth, and financial pressures on already tight budgets are not only mounting, but set to continue for the foreseeable future. Everyone should be asking themselves, “How can I cut costs?”
One way to spend less on increasing utility bills is to adopt a serious attitude towards reducing water wastage. Fortunately, the effort and expenses involved may be less than you think.
Save water in your home
- By simply changing your shower head to a water-efficient model you can save up to 50 litres of water per shower. In a family of 4, that’s 6000 litres per month and 72000 litres per year.
- Toilet flushing accounts for 21% of a household’s water demand, and a two-flush toilet can reduce this by 60%. Alternatively, recycled grey water (obtained, for example, by putting a bucket in your shower) will also significantly reduce this type of water usage.
- Install a grey water recycling system. Water from the washing machine, dishwasher, kitchen sink and shower can be recycled for use in the garden and toilet cistern so long as bio-degradable detergents and soap are used (they contain less chemicals that are harmful to plants).
- Only use the dishwasher and washing machine for full loads.
- Turn the tap off while you’re brushing your teeth, and don’t clean your razor in running water – instead, use a plug and fill the basin with only as much water as you need.
- Cooking veggies (and rice) in a microwave with a lidded container saves both water and energy.
Save water in your garden
- Train your lawn and plants to be less “thirsty”: by slowly watering your lawn and certain plants less and less, you force their roots to grow deeper into soil that retains water better.
- Weeds are water consumers par-excellence, so it is important to remove them while they are still young.
- Group plants according to their water demands. In this way you avoid over watering plants that could quite happily get by with less.
- Truly attractive gardens can be cultivated by using succulents native to your specific area, and by employing gravel, pebbles and rocks in parts of the garden that don’t need to be grass lawns.
- Use mulch as a ground cover for all planted areas and beds.
- Only water plants and lawns in the very early morning and in the evening to avoid evaporation, and consider “drip irrigation” that supplies water only to the area in which plant roots occur.
- If you have a sprinkler system installed, use a timer to ensure that watering only takes place at the correct times and for a specified duration.
- Use hosepipes with a “turn-off nozzle”.
- Implement rainwater harvesting or a grey water recycling system to provide water for gardening needs.
- Be aware of water restrictions in your area.
- Last, but certainly not least, fix those leaking taps.
For further information about water-saving home and garden devices and practices, go to your nearest Builders, shop online, or check out this really useful Eco-edition of Love Your Home.
