Water Efficiency At Home

Friday, May 11th, 2018

South Gippsland Water appreciates the efforts of customers to keep their water usage low, in fact, customers in South Gippsland have kept their water usage low since the millennium drought of the 2000’s.  However, with Stage 3 “Just Enough” Water Restrictions now activated for Korumburra, being water efficient at home needs to remain top of mind, despite the wintry weather outside.  There are plenty of ways to save water around the house, even in the winter months.

In the Shower

Around 30% of household water use is in the shower. You can easily cut your water use by being conscious of how long you are showering for.  Some people like to play music in the shower, if so, give yourself one or (max) two songs to be done and out.  Alternately you can place a four minute egg timer in the shower to help you keep a visual eye on the time.

Water efficient showerheads are readily available and relatively cheap. They can reduce water flow from 20L per minute to 9L per minute. Reducing water used in the shower has a double benefit, as you’re also reducing the energy used to heat the water, saving you even more money.

At the Bathroom Basin

A running tap uses about 16 litres of water per minute and a dripping tap can waste up to 20,000 litres a year! That’s a lot of water, so if your tap is dripping you should be getting it fixed. Turn the tap off when brushing your teeth. Wet your brush and use a glass for rinsing.  Don’t rinse your razor under a running tap. Filling the basin with a little warm water is just as effective and less wasteful.

Flushing Toilets

A quarter of all the water we use in the bathroom is flushed down the toilet! It is crazy that we use high quality, treated drinking water to flush toilets.

When installing a new toilet, buy a top rated dual flush toilet. Look for models with a four-star water efficiency rating. These can save the average home up to 35,000 litres per year. These toilets use just 4.5 litres for a full flush and 3 litres for a half flush. In comparison, older toilets use around 18 litres per flush. If you can’t afford a new toilet, put a water filled plastic bottle or a brick in your cistern to reduce the volume used with each flush.

Leaking toilet cisterns waste litres of water each day. Check for leaks by putting a few drops of food dye in the cistern. If you have a leak, coloured water will appear in the bowl before the toilet has been flushed.

Lastly, don’t use your toilet as a bin. Feminine hygiene products, food waste, wet wipes and goldfish should go in the bin! Flushing these down the toilet not only wastes valuable water but places additional strain on the sewerage system.

In the Kitchen

When washing dishes by hand, don’t rinse them under a running tap. If you have two sinks, fill the second one with rinsing water. If you have only one sink, stack washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a pan of hot water. Use washing-up liquid sparingly as this will reduce the amount of rinsing required when washing dishes by hand. Don’t use running water to defrost frozen food. Ideally place food in refrigerator to defrost overnight. If you have a leaking tap, replace the washer or other components as required or you could be wasting 30–200 litres of water per day.

There are water efficiency resources available at https://www.smartwatermark.org/Victoria/ with the hints and tips designed to provide customers with easy ways to save water in the home garden and even at work.

For any customers wanting to understand the Stage 3 Water Restriction rules and requirements, you can visit South Gippsland Water’s website https://www.sgwater.com.au/services/water/water-restrictions/

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