For the Love of Water

I'm back on the topic of water! As it is March, the month where water awareness is big on the agenda with National Water Week and with focus on the 22 March - National Water Day. A perfect time to reflect on our current water crisis or even more critical outcome it could cause if we do no ACT now.

There are the facts we are possibly all already aware of but they tend to slip our minds with our  everyday rush in the rat race we live and our ever demanding lifestyles! However we unfortunately can not ignore the obvious and need to all be concerned and committed to  "waste not want not" this life giving substance!

Did you know that today, at least 400 million people live in regions with severe water shortages? South Africa is generally a water-scarce country, and it is predicted that demand for water will exceed supply within the next 15 to 20 years. It is inevitable that we will need to be more efficient in our water use.

Studies show that an average suburban house can reduce their water consumption by 30-40% without sacrificing any comforts (from about 250 litres/person/day to 150 litres/person/day). In addition, if grey water is recycled for garden use, household water use can be reduced by an astounding 60% or more with ease.

Waste water should be seen as a resource rather than a burden. A lot  can be done with "water waste' , if we are prepared to make some small changes, it is a start dont you think? We can't even begin to imagine the world with no water or little resources thereof?

Here is a subtle reminder of what we can all try do around our own homes!

The bathroom is where the most water waste happens, so we can all help conserve water by making these easy changes in your home:

• Reduce the toilet flush volume – this alone can save you 20% of your total water consumption with no reduction in convenience. Older toilets have cisterns of around 11 litres, where in fact only half of this water volume is ever necessary. Modern toilets have more sensible cisterns of around 6 litres, and even this is unnecessarily wasteful for flushing liquids. Dual Flush devices are ideal. To reduce the flush volume without any new installations, you can put a displacement container in the cistern – try a 2 litre coke bottle filled with water, and a little sand as ballast.
• Fix any leaking taps or pipes. Even a small leak from a tap can waste up to 75 litres of water a day.
• Install water-saving shower heads and aerators.
• Additionally, cut down your time in the shower and avoid taking baths. Taking even a 5-minute shower can waste up to 150 litres of water. Worse, a bath can use twice as much.
• Turn off the water while shaving, washing your face, or brushing your teeth.

Water saving tips in the rest of  your household:

• Water your plants early in the morning or in the evening. This will reduce the amount of water that evaporates throughout the day.
• Learn about water-wise gardening!
• Use mulch around plants and trees to hold water in the soil.
• Use grey water. Grey water is water that is recycled from domestic activities such as showering or doing laundry. Using this water in your garden is a way to recycle and ultimately conserve. Installing a system to pump grey water (i.e. from the washing machine, basins, shower and bath) to the garden, most households will eliminate the need for any additional garden watering. This alone will reduce your consumption by 35%.
• Match the size of your laundry load with water volume.
• Repair dripping taps by replacing the washer. If a tap is dripping at a rate of 1 drop per second, you could be wasting up to 10,220 Liters per year!

So lets not forget in our every day lives how precious our water is, it is one of the vital gifts from mother earth that we need to spare!