Don't Waste That Water - Every Little Helps

carosanto

Hi all, this is my very first tip as I only registered today, but have been an avid collector of ms tips from this site for some time. Here goes.

If your kitchen hot tap runs cold for a few seconds before giving you the hot water you need, keep several plastic drinks bottles on your windowsill, and fill these up with cold water which you generally would let run down the plug 'ole. Use this water for flowers, indoor plants, rinsing out the sink even, but DON'T WASTE IT.

:cool:

Penelope_Penguin

Welcome to the Forum :beer: This is a great tip, though better suited to the Green and Ethical Board where there's a long thread on saving water

I'll move it over there and it'll get added to that thread.

eco

mine is save your bath water and with a jug and instead of flushing the toilet use that water

andrione1

my tip is - don't water the plants with the water you run first, it is full of funny stuff from the pipes and the plants deserve better

Ken68

Fill a jug with water and let stand to take the chill off. Filling a kettle from the tap makes for more electric.
And if you fill the kettle with slightly more than your need, then pour the surplus into a flask to keep hot for next use.

going2die_rich

Whats wrong with wasting water? I understand that their are many parts of the world that are in desperate need of water, but us not wasting it, isn't going to mean they get any extra from us.

Our reservoirs haven't ran dry yet and are unlikely to anytime soon. Fair enough the south of the country is always going a bit short during the summer on occassions, but nothing we can't handle.

Slinky

going2die_rich wrote: »

Whats wrong with wasting water? I understand that their are many parts of the world that are in desperate need of water, but us not wasting it, isn't going to mean they get any extra from us.

Our reservoirs haven't ran dry yet and are unlikely to anytime soon. Fair enough the south of the country is always going a bit short during the summer on occassions, but nothing we can't handle.

Do I take it you're not on a water meter then? If you are, then every drop wasted has to be paid for at the same rate as every drop used.

geordie_joe

Slinky wrote: »

Do I take it you're not on a water meter then? If you are, then every drop wasted has to be paid for at the same rate as every drop used.

Yes but it depends on your definition of "waste". I know of people who "bath" with nothing more than a flannel and a cup of water, they consider using any more to be a waste. Others only flush the loo once per day and think flushing more often is a waste.

Personally I think washing cars is waste, just wait until it rains and get out there with your sponge. Watering a garden full of flowers or grass is a waste, if you aren't going to eat it you shouldn't be growing it in your garden. Others will have very different views, and those views will be just as valid as mine or any one else's.

I once came across a web site with the view that if you use a resource purely for enjoyment then it is a waste. You should only use the minimum resources necessary to keep you alive. I remember thinking that if I followed it's advice life wouldn't be worth living!

[Deleted User]

I fill the kettle with water from the hot tap, as it is from a condensing combi boiler, so saving water and energy

vl2588

It is expensive both in monetary and environmental terms to over-use water. For example it costs more to treat a large volume of dilute bacteria (etc etc.) than a smaller volume of more concentrated bacteria. However, under-using water can also be a problem when taken to extremes as there needs to be a certain volume of water to get waste moving through pipes, if you get my drift!

I try not to flush every single time and never over-fill the kettle and other small things like that, but I think water saving can be taken too far. Unfortunately nothing is that simple!

thescouselander

I think going to extremes saving water in order to save money / the environment is flawed. Think about it - the cost of water to flush the toilet is approximately 1p. First of all its going to take a long time to save any significant amount by, for example, flushing the toilet less.

Secondly, the 1p has been used by the water company to meet all sorts of expenses such as pay, buildings and infrastructure, profits, etc etc. Only a tiny fraction of the cost will go into the energy required to collect and process the water, pump it to your house, take it back and process the waste.

So equating energy used to environmental damage (as that will be the main source of CO2 emissions) you have to conclude that the environmental cost of that water must be minute if not negligible.

If you really want to save money and the environment this is not the way to do it.