
Being water-wise at home takes a little extra effort but despite helping to save water you will also save money by wasting less water. We need to realise the value of water because if we don’t it will run out.
Water-wise in the kitchen
The water from the kitchen ends up with the black water or sewage for treatment. This is because the used water from the sink and dishwasher contains grease, chemicals and is considered to be contaminated.
Use a plastic basin to rinse your dishes
(Or a Skottel as they say in Afrikaans). Rinsing dishes wastes water down the drain but by partly filling a plastic basin with warm water you can rinse many dishes with very little water. Pour the dirty water into another bucket through a fine sieve to remove the food bits. The sieved water can then be thrown out into the garden.
Don’t defrost frozen food and milk with running warm water
Put meat or milk to be defrosted in the fridge the night before. It is better to allow food to slowly defrost and just required some planning ahead.
Don’t boil your food
Let’s face it boiled food is pretty tasteless, rather steam or bake your veggies and save water.
Buy a dishwasher
Like a shower uses less water than a bath a new dishwasher uses less water than manually washing the dishes. Also, who wants to spend all that time breaking your back over dirty dishes? Rather spend that time being water-wise elsewhere in the house.
Water-wise in the bathroom
Get a Grey Water System
Connect your waste bathroom water (except the toilet) to your grey water system. The grey water system will filter the water for reuse on your garden. With a grey water system, you can take that bucket out of the shower because the water is being diverted to the garden anyway.
Turn off the tap
When brushing your teeth turn off the tap, as relaxing as the sound of running water is in the morning, you are wasting water. Cut your shower time down to the minimum.
Flush less
You don’t need to flush every time you use the toilet. Obviously, you don’t want the place to stink up so use your discretion here. For old toilets place something that takes up volume in the cistern so less water is used for flushing.
Water-wise around the house
Don’t wash all the clothes all the time
Not all clothes are really dirty after they have been worn. Old clothes, don’t have to be washed as often as your smart new outfits.
Fix the leaks
Pipes wear out over time and washers get flat and brittle. Keep on top of leaking taps, geysers and pipes
Don’t wash your car
Just like a brown lawn is a sign of being water-wise and no longer something to be ashamed of a dirty car shows you are not wasting water. When it rains again you can park it outside for a rinse.