Having water is more important than ever now that many of us are spending more time at home. In some areas of the UK, water demand has increased by 25% since the onset of the pandemic so finding ways to conserve water use in the home is key for avoiding a drought.
There are small, water-conscious habits you can incorporate into your home to make a positive impact on the environment and on your wallet. Our guide will walk you through the different ways to conserve water in every room of your home.
In the Kitchen
The kitchen is where our families spend the most time together cooking and cleaning. While cooking at home is a great money saver it also means more dishes to clean. Explore the following tips for saving water in the kitchen.
Fill Up The Dishwasher
It may seem counterintuitive, but washing dishes by hand uses a lot more water than running full loads in a dishwasher — even more so if you have a water-conserving model. When you run full loads in the dishwasher, you save time as well as more than 1,211 litres of water per year.
Let Your Pots and Pans Soak
Running your pots and pans under the tap for 10 minutes can waste 100 litres of water, so instead, fill up your sink and allow your pots and pans to soak overnight.
Compost your Kitchen Scraps
Running your garbage disposal uses about 30 litres of water per day. Compost kitchen scraps instead to reduce the need for using your garbage disposal.
In the Bathroom
The bathroom is where many households use the most water. Showers are by far the biggest consumers of water in the home, consuming 25%, with toilets second at 22%. Below are a few methods for using less water in the bathroom.
Take Shorter Showers
You use about 10 litres of water per minute by taking a shower, so shortening your shower by a minute or two will save up to 568 litres per month.
Install Water-Saving Shower-heads
Installing water-efficient showerheads can save you up to 2,839 litres a month. If your shower fills a 4 litre bucket in less than 20 seconds, you should consider replacing the showerhead with a water-efficient model.
Check for Leaks
Fixing leaky taps can save 530 litres of water a week. Just drop food coloring into the toilet’s tank to see if water will seep into the toilet bowl.
In the Laundry Room
Small habits like hand washing your delicates and using a different detergent can make an impact on your water use. Try implementing the following conservation methods in your laundry room.
Upgrade Your Washing Machine
Upgrading to an efficient washing machine can save your household thousands of litres of water a year. Using a new model such as an ENERGY STAR-certified model can use less energy and up to 26,498 litres per year.
Wash Full Loads
Only use your washing machine to wash full loads of laundry. Consider hand washing delicates rather than using the cycle setting. Machine washing uses around 53 litres per wash, and when you don’t run the water and put a stopper in the sink, hand washing uses only 20.
Use Concentrated Detergents
Non-concentrated liquid laundry detergents contain 60% to 90% water, so choosing a concentrated detergent can save you hundreds of litres of water a year.
Saving water in your home is easy and not only beneficial for the environment but your wallet too. For more conservation ideas, explore Zolo’s room-by-room guide to saving water at home.