How has your week been? I bet it has being a bit strange, considering everything that is happening with the coronavirus outbreak. It is pretty amazing to think, how our daily lives have changed in just a few weeks.
Now that we are going to be at home more and probably with the whole family, we need to consider how we can reduce our waste of things around the home and create new habits that will hopefully be around for a long time to come, well beyond the end of the coronavirus outbreak.
Water waste is one area to think about. - how can you not waste water in the home? Sometimes it is not obvious that there is water wastage, but keeping the water waste to a minimum is often easily achievable. So here are a few tips for things to look out for and what to do to prevent the waste:
Wanting hot water
You know how you need to run the hot tap to get hot water. Well, instead of wasting water why don't you collect it. In our household, we use an old juice bottle (and I mean old - we have had for over 7 years) to collect the running water and we use it for our pets and watering potted plants.
In the showers, we leave basins to collect the cold water before it warms up and we use this water in the garden and even to wash the shower and the sinks.
Running taps
Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth or shaving. Many people have got into the habit of keeping the tap running whilst brushing their teeth or even when they are shaving. That is many litres of good drinking water being wasted. If you need water for your teeth, fill a glass. If it is for shaving, fill (actually, half fill) the sink.
Watering the garden
Use a watering can in the garden or get a control release spraying head for your hose.
Save greywater to water flowering beds. Check if it is suitable for vegetables (depends on what detergents you use). This might be the time to make the switch to biodegradable detergents.
Drinking water
Keep cold water in the fridge so you don't run the tap to get cool water.
Leaking tap
Fix leaking taps, as the constant dripping is wasting a lot of water over time.
Bathing
Take shorter showers (approximately 4-5 minutes). If you want a bath, make it a special treat and remember the used water can be used to clean off stains in your laundry. If your not one for scrubbing just soak in an eco-friendly, biodegradable stain remover/detergents. Baking soda and lemon are also very good to add.
We hope these few tips on saving water will help you around the house. Keep your eyes open and you will start to notice areas where you have been using a bit more water than you need. Often, it might be a case where you have to educate others in your household e.g. the kids.
If you have any more suggestions on the best ways to reduce water wastage, please let us know. Not only will you be part of the conversation, but you will be teaching others who are looking for advice
Good luck on being earthly passionate about water,
Attracta & the earthly passion team.