Most of us take water for granted. Turn on a tap (faucet for you 'Mericans) and out it flows, and we just let it go down the plug hole without a second thought.
My water company charges me for the water I use. I have what they call a "smart meter", which is supposed to make charging me more accurate, so apparently, I pay for the water I use and not pay for water I don't. Their website says I use 100 litres a day. I thought that was ridiculous, I couldn't possibly be using 100 litres every day!
So I decided to measure just how much water I was using. It has shocked me.
Biggest offenders first:
Showering - 43L
Washing machine - 38L
Toilet - 8L each flush, possibly about 10 times each day
Washing up / kitchen sink - 8L + 8L just to get hot water to come through. I might do the washing up 3 times in a day.
Kettle - 2L
TOTAL WATER USAGE : 211L
But I don't use the washing machine every day, I don't wash my hair every day. This is still a horrendous amount of water for one person to be using. So I'm going to make some changes. I'm going to catch the water I use to run the tap to get hot water before I do the washing up, and use that in the kettle or to water the plants. I'm only going to have the shower running when I need to rinse off after applying soap instead of leaving it running all the time I'm in the shower. I'm going to do laundry on an economy wash setting. I don't know yet how much water I'll save doing this, but hopefully it'll help.
My water company charges me for the water I use. I have what they call a "smart meter", which is supposed to make charging me more accurate, so apparently, I pay for the water I use and not pay for water I don't. Their website says I use 100 litres a day. I thought that was ridiculous, I couldn't possibly be using 100 litres every day!
So I decided to measure just how much water I was using. It has shocked me.
Biggest offenders first:
Showering - 43L
Washing machine - 38L
Toilet - 8L each flush, possibly about 10 times each day
Washing up / kitchen sink - 8L + 8L just to get hot water to come through. I might do the washing up 3 times in a day.
Kettle - 2L
TOTAL WATER USAGE : 211L
But I don't use the washing machine every day, I don't wash my hair every day. This is still a horrendous amount of water for one person to be using. So I'm going to make some changes. I'm going to catch the water I use to run the tap to get hot water before I do the washing up, and use that in the kettle or to water the plants. I'm only going to have the shower running when I need to rinse off after applying soap instead of leaving it running all the time I'm in the shower. I'm going to do laundry on an economy wash setting. I don't know yet how much water I'll save doing this, but hopefully it'll help.