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Low cost water-saving
Even on a tight budget, you can easily save water around your home with one or two low-cost fittings and a few simple behavioural changes. All of the fittings listed are readily available from hardware stores, bathroom or garden retailers, or specialist water-saving online stores.
Water-saving showerhead
A water-saving shower head is probably the best value water-saving fitting you can buy. About a third of water in a typical Australian home is used for showering, and a $50 water-saving showerhead can halve this. What’s more, it will also cut your energy bill for water heating, thus paying for itself many times over and reducing your greenhouse gas emissions. The quality of modern water-saving showerheads has improved noticeably in recent years, too, and you’ll quickly get used to it. In some states you can get water-saving showerheads installed for free as part of greenhouse gas reduction schemes.
Cistern converter
If your toilet isn't already dual-flush, fit a cistern converter. They cost about $10 and fit into your cistern to reduce the amount of water it uses to flush. Toilets use about a fifth of the water in Australian homes, and a cistern converter can easily half this. You can achieve the same result by putting a full plastic bottle of water into the cistern. Don't use a brick, as bricks can crumble and block up your plumbing.
Aerating taps
For less than $10 each, aerating taps mix air into the water coming out of your taps. They can halve the amount of water you use in your kitchen and bathroom sinks.
Water-saving habits
These simple changes cost nothing but will dramatically reduce your water use:
1. Take shorter showers – keep them under four minutes (or even two).
2. Don't leave taps running when washing dishes, washing your hands or cleaning your teeth. Put the plug in when necessary.
3. Wait until you have full loads to run dishwashers and washing machines.
Water saving in the garden
Roughly half of the water used by a typical suburban household is in the garden. But you can easily reduce this to virtually – or even literally – nothing with the following low-cost suggestions:
1. Reduce the size of your lawn. The lawn is by far the biggest water consumer in the typical garden. Replace lawn with paving and potted plants, or mulched areas with native shrubs.
2. Water your garden in the cool of the early morning or late afternoon to reduce evaporation.
3. Plant drought-tolerant plants, especially native plants local to your area. After all, native plants survive in the wild without anyone watering them. Local councils sometimes give away native plants for free, especially on National Tree Day – it’s worth asking your council.
4. Recycle greywater from your washing machine and dishwasher, and the initial cold water from showers and taps (see below).
Greywater
Greywater refers to the waste water from dishwashers, washing machines, showers and sinks. Unlike sewage from your toilet (which is called “blackwater”) greywater is relatively clean and can be safely diverted into your garden to water lawns and plants (although it should be used immediately and not stored). There are sophisticated greywater systems on the market but you can easily recycle a fair amount of greywater cheaply with these low-tech, low-cost methods:
1. Fit simple greywater diverting switches, which cost about $50, to the water outlet of your washing machine and/or dishwasher. They let you redirect the water outflow into a hose running into your garden. If your garden slopes upwards you may need a pump to get the water to the garden. Otherwise you can just point the hose into your garden or connect it to your drip watering system.
2. You can do much the same thing manually – and for free. Simply point the outflow hose from your washing machine into a bucket to catch the final rinse water, then empty the bucket into your garden.
3. Use a bucket to collect the initial cold water from your shower, then empty it into the garden. Use something smaller, such as an ice-cream container, to do the same in your washbasins. This is clean, fresh water, so you can also use it to wash your hands, to water indoor plants or even to flush toilets – simply empty the bucket into the toilet bowl instead of flushing.
Rainwater tanks
Check current state and Federal Government rebates and grants for rainwater tanks, as they can make buying a rainwater tank very affordable. A rainwater tank supplier should be able to tell you what financial incentives are currently on offer.
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References
Related Categories
Bathroom
Hot Water Systems
Rainwater Tanks