I realised that my last few articles have all been about shopping, so let’s take a break and look at other ways in which you can make a difference in your world for a change :-)
You probably already know this, but Australia’s climate follows a cyclical weather pattern influenced by various winds and ocean currents, which scientists have dubbed El Niño and La Niña. A friend of mine recently “predicted” that we’re heading towards another drought because of El Niño, which, according to studies by the Bureau of Meteorology, means that we can expect less rain.
The cycle sure seems to come around quick! It wasn’t all that long ago that we were on severe water restrictions. Maybe if we get the jump on this one early it won’t be so bad, so here are a few water saving tips that to try:
… in the shower
The best way to save water in the shower is by installing a low-flow shower head, which reduces the amount of water required without sacrificing the “punch” of a regular shower head. Better still, a quick google will help you to locate businesses that give these away for free (with some even offering free or heavily discounted installation).
Shorter showers will also help save water, but if you’re really looking for extreme water savings, then you could also try using a bucket to collect water while waiting for it to heat up, and using that to water the garden or flushing the toilet with!
… in the kitchen
Before I met my wife Jenny I used to wash the dishes with running water, but she helped me to see the light. The best way to wash dishes is to soak the dishes in the sink first, which both helps to reduce water use as well as the amount of scrubbing required. If you have an extreme kitchen with two sinks, use one for soaking and one for rinsing.
… in the laundry
Wait for a full load of washing before you run the washing machine. Apparently each load uses around 17 buckets of water depending on your washing machine, so less washes means less water. An extreme tip here would be instead of letting the dirty water run down the drain, keeping it for flushing toilets. I don’t think it’d be so good for watering the garden, to be honest :-)
I’m sure you know of many more ways to save water around the house. Share them with us in the comments!
Lastly, just for a bit of fun, here’s a video IBM created about how technology can be put to use to make water “smarter” (Disclaimer: I work for IBM). Check it out!