Many homes now have water meters, so if you can recycle water then you can save money as well as helping the environment. There are two options available for saving water – rainwater harvesting, or greywater recycling.

Rainwater Harvesting

Many people already have a water butt in their garden – the simplest form of rainwater harvesting. If you don’t have one, then you should consider installing one – it’s very easy to do, and your plants will thank you for it – they much prefer natural rainwater to tap water with all its chemicals.

At the other end of the scale, you can get a full rainwater harvesting system for domestic use – with a large underground tank, filter and pump system, which can then be used for flushing toilets and running washing machines.

Greywater Recycling

Greywater is the water from your sinks, bath, shower, washing machine and dishwasher. This water can be recycled and reused for things like flushing the toilet and watering plants. The simplest recycling option is a valve which fits onto your waste pipe outside (not the one from the toilet!), and diverts water to a water butt. You can then use this water in the garden once it’s had a chance to cool.

At the other end of the scale, you can have a system installed which takes the grey water, filters and cleans it, and stores it for use in flushing toilets etc.

Ways to Save Water in the Home

Showers

Change your shower head to a water-efficient one, shower instead of taking a bath, and spend one or two minutes less time in the shower – you can save even more water if you turn the shower off while you apply soap and shampoo.

Sinks

Don’t run a tap for no reason – if you are doing your teeth, only run the tap when you need to rinse your brush, instead of leaving the tap on all the time.

Appliances

Make sure your dishwasher and washing machine are full before you switch them on. Even if you have a half-load setting, it will use more than half the amount of water that a full load does.

Toilets

If you have an old toilet cistern,  put a water-saving Hippo in it.

Fix that drip

A dripping tap wastes an astonishing amount of water - over 5,500 litres a year! So make sure taps are properly turned off, and replace washers on dripping taps.

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