How to save your daily water consumption?

1. Don’t let the water run for nothing

The first thing to do at home is to NEVER let the water run for nothing. I myself have this bad habit of letting the water run in the kitchen sink when I rinse and wash the dishes by hand.

Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth!

For some, it’s a matter of habit. Brushing your teeth with tap water running is a major waste of drinking water.

It is absolutely necessary to change this bad habit and rather turn off the tap when we brush our teeth. Also take the time to make your children aware of the importance of saving drinking water on a daily basis.

Install a water saver on taps!

To save even more water, you can install a water saver, an aerator (also called faucet aerator) on the faucets (the kitchen sink and bathroom sink).

2. Reduce your water consumption in the shower and bath

Taking a nice hot bath with plenty of water is fun and relaxing, isn’t it!? So why not take a shower instead of a bath?

I’m not saying never to relax in the bath again, but rather to reduce the number of baths per week and to favor the shower, which consumes much less water. You’ll even save a lot of money on your electricity bill, especially if you take a bath every day!

Some interesting bath and shower figures:

• Depending on the size of the bathtub, a bath consumes more than 160 liters of water.
• Depending on the duration of the shower, you will consume approximately 60 liters of water.
• Hot water represents between 15 and 20% of the electricity bill!

But to further reduce your daily water consumption, it is important to reduce the time spent in the shower. A shower of 5 to 8 minutes is enough to wash off.

3. Use the dishwasher and washing machine well

Appliances in the house such as the dishwasher and the washing machine are very practical, but these machines unfortunately consume a lot of water.

So by reducing their use, you will necessarily reduce your daily water consumption and therefore reduce your bill.

Fill to 100% capacity:

We sometimes tend to run the dishwasher half full. Same thing for the washing machine, wait until it is fully loaded before starting the wash cycle to save water.

Choose the eco function / program and or half load

The majority of household appliances today offer an eco-type program that reduces the machine’s water consumption for washing.

4. Install a dual-flow toilet

Still to save a lot of water at home, the double spite (dual flush) toilet is a preferred toilet.

Did you know that a traditional toilet uses up to 16 liters of water per flush… That’s huge!

Install a low-flow toilet:

The advantage of this type of dual flush toilet is that it uses less than 6 liters of water. Some models only use 3 liters of water for liquids while they use 6 liters of water to flush solids.

A bottle of water in the tank!

If you don’t have this type of “eco” toilet at home, you can simply place a bottle of water directly in the toilet tank. With this trick you will save 2 liters of water extra every time you flush.

5. Reduce water use for the garden and lawn

One place where a lot of drinking water is wasted is in the garden. Whether it is to water the lawn or the vegetable garden, the waste of water is enormous and yet it is easy to reduce your water consumption in the garden!

How to water your garden to save water?

• A garden generally requires around 15 liters of water per m².
• Water your vegetable plants early in the morning or in the evening to prevent the water from evaporating too quickly.
• Collect rainwater if possible to water your fruits, vegetables and flowers in the garden.

Don’t water your lawn, let it grow longer!

I know that having a beautiful, dense green lawn is the challenge of many neighbours. But watering his lawn to keep it green is useless and above all it is a BIG waste of water.

Better let the grass grow

and keep it longer so it stays healthy, even during a drought. If you cut the grass too short, it will dry out much faster and therefore risk yellowing and dying.

My goal for next summer is to install a rainwater collector and use this water for the garden and the flowerbeds.

6. Wash your car without wasting water

Before having my children and this busy life of today, I liked to pamper, maintain and wash my car on weekends. I didn’t really realize at the time how much water I was wasting washing my car.

A waste of about 200 liters of water and even more!

So how do you wash your car and reduce your water consumption? Simply by using a sponge (or cloth) and a bucket. Of course, if the car is very dirty, you may have no choice but to use the garden hose to rinse the car to start the cleaning.

By opting for the bucket of water and the sponge you will save a hundred liters of water!

7. Watch out for water leaks in the house

Some water leaks are easily visible, but other smaller ones can go unnoticed and therefore cause a great waste of water on a daily basis!

Did you know that toilet flushing is the main source of water leaks?

Here are some interesting numbers about water leaks at home:

• A leaky faucet: 3 liters of water/hour to waste
• A little trickle of water: 15 liters of water/hour to waste
• A leaky toilet flush: 25 liters of water/hour to waste

So quickly go around the taps and toilets to check and repair any water leaks if necessary. It’s a great way to avoid wasting drinking water at home!

8. Reduce your electricity bill by reducing your hot water consumption

Finally, why not take the opportunity to discover some easy tips and tricks for reduce your hot water consumption!

By reducing your hot water consumption at home you will also save a lot of money on your next electricity bill!

Here are some simple actions and tips to reduce hot water at home:

• Adjust the water heater to the correct temperature.
• Rinse and wash your hands with cold water.
• Rinse the dishes in cold water.
• Install a thermostatic mixing valve on the taps.
• Install an energy-saving shower head.
• Take shorter, 5-minute showers.
• Wash laundry at low temperature in the washing machine.
• Insulate hot water pipes to save money.