National Water Week

IN AND AROUND THE HOUSE/BUSINESS

• Turn off taps while washing your face, brushing your teeth or shaving.
• Taking a five-minute shower a day, instead of a bath, will use a third of the water, saving up to 400 liters a week. Showering could use up to 20 liters of water per minute.
• If you prefer to bath, share the water, and don’t make it as full. Taking a bath could use between 80 and 150 liters of water.
• Use low-flow showerheads, dual-flush toilet mechanisms and water-efficient washing machines.
• Kettles should be filled with just enough water for your needs and not to the brim. This will help to reduce your electricity bill as well.
• Don’t over-fill containers for cooking. You will also use more energy to heat the water.
• Reducing the toilet flush volume alone can save 20% of total water consumption. This can be achieved by putting a 2-liter cold drink bottle, filled with water, and a little sand to add weight, into the cistern.
• Fix leaking toilets. It can waste up to 100 000 liters of water in one year.
• Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily. Dispose of tissues, insects and other waste in the trash rather than the toilet. Every time you flush the toilet, 12 liters of water is used.
• Use “grey water” – used water from baths, washing machines and other safe sources – to flush your toilet.
• Do not over-fill or excessively backwash your swimming pool.
• Use a bucket rather than a hose to wash your car. If you must use a hose, use a sprayer that can be turned off in-between spraying the car. Using a garden hose could use as much as 30 litres of water per minute.
• Do not pour paint and chemicals down the drain.
• Farmers must ensure that they keep toxic insecticides away from water sources and streams.
• Factories should take care of how they discharge mercury and other heavy metals into wastewater.
• People living in rural areas should take care not to use the river or riverbank as a toilet.

IN THE GARDEN

• Always water your plants during the early morning hours or in the evening, when temperatures are cooler. Watering between 10:00 and 15:00 you can lose up to 90% of water to evaporation.
• Every time you boil an egg, save the cooled water for your houseplants. They’ll benefit from the nutrients released from the shell.
• Focus on indigenous and non-water-consumptive alien plants (but not invasive alien plants).
• Group plants according to their water needs and to mulch around them.
• Water gardens less frequently, but water well. Using a garden hose could use as much as 30 liters of water per minute
• Clear invasive alien plants on your property.
• Roof water can also be profitably stored in tanks, for watering gardens.
• Use “grey water” – used water from baths, washing machines and other safe sources – to water your garden.