Shower sharing is planet caring, so do your duty to Mother Nature this Sunday and find a friend to shower with. While you are at it, there are other ways you can take care of our most valuable resource and reduce your monthly bills.
Take Shorter Showers
We all love to languish in the shower, especially in the colder weather, but cutting your shower by just two minutes will help to save about 38 litres of water every day. Showering uses less water than bathing, so save your soak in the tub for those days when you need it most.
Put a bucket in your shower to catch water while you wait for it to warm. You can use this for cleaning or for your indoor plants.
Turning off the tap while you brush your teeth will save 7000 litres of water a year.
Dirty Kids are Healthy Kids
It turns out, dirt is actually essential for your kid to develop a healthy immune system. Canadian microbiologist B. Brett Finlay and Marie-Claire Arrieta have released a study showing that dirt contains bacteria that is essential for the development and functioning of healthy bodies. For example, kids that grow up on farms are 20% less likely to develop asthma thanks to the microbes that they are exposed to.
What this means is that your kids don’t need to be squeaky clean all the time. Missing a shower here or there can actually be a good thing.
Check Taps and Toilets for Leaks
Your leaking taps and toilets cost you around 37,854 litres of water a year or about 10% of your bill. Check for leaks by reading your water meter before you go to work and again when you get home.
You can check your toilet for leaks by adding a few drops of food colouring to the tank. If the colour leaks into the bowl, you need to replace your flapper.
Install Low-Flow Fixtures
Low-flow taps and showerheads can save you between 25-60% on your monthly water bill.
Installing a low-flow toilet that uses only six litres will mean that you save 70% of the water with every flush and that you will be reducing your water bill by 30% every month. For a quick solution, fill a water bottle with water and place it in the toilet tank to reduce the amount of water you use with each flush.
In the Kitchen
Store water in the fridge so you don’t have to let the tap run while you wait for it to cool.
Steam your veggies as it’s healthier and utilizes less water than boiling does.
Wash all your fruits and veggies in the sink at the same time rather than holding each one under a running tap.
Save your pasta water for your indoor plants.
Insulate your pipes so your water doesn’t take as much time to heat and so that you run less of a risk of a burst pipe.
By far the easiest and most effective way to save water is by reducing your red meat intake. It takes 15,000 litres of water and 30kg of carbon to produce just 1kg of beef. Just a couple of vegetarian meals a week will help you to reduce your carbon footprint while saving water.
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