The Great Use Less Water Hunt

mjbeckett

Thanks to all those that replied to my question. I'll start thinking of some more to tax your brains. Many thanks

culpepper

when it hasnt rained,I use my washing machine water to water the garden. I've got some ecoballs which work without detergent to clean your laundry,then as it empties out,I have a series of washing up bowls and containers to catch it in instead of letting it go down the drain. I dont do it every time as you need detergent for really dirty clothes and anyway the drain gets smelly if you never let any water go down.
When we boil water for tea,we stick the excess in flasks to use all day.Otherwise the next person to boil the kettle will only empty the cold away and refill(they say it tastes wierd if boiled more than once).
I always empty the cold dregs from tea onto the house plants.

gromituk

Ecoballs - hadn't heard of them. Have just googled. Interesting. Shame I can't get my washing machine not to rinse.

QueenB.

Well after reading this thread and putting some things into practice i also decided take a peek at my local water boards website.

Just ordered my free save a flush and water saving kit which will hopefully arive soon.

Also checked out all the tips on there, most of which i already do but have decided to spend the weekend checking the washers on all my taps and making sure all plugs fit well.

Was also just great to find out more about my local water board and the situation in my area.

Whoosher

I live in Northern Ireland, and while we don't have a water shortage (hence the "Emerald Isle" I guess!), I think it's still important to save as much as we can.

I've just searched through the Water Service NI website, but it doesn't seem to offer any advice to the environmentally-aware consumer. Hmm, will post on the NI board and see if anybody has any advice about obtaining a save a flush/hippo device.

lurchajn

Sorry if someone has already posted this but it didn't show up in a search.

If you use a condensing tumble dryer, some of them are ventless and collect the condensed water in removable reservoir so you can just pour it straight in your watering can.

DebtlessDolly

When I was a kid my dad made all of us turn off the shower after we got wet, then turn it on again to rinse. He called it a Navy shower! The only problem is the water takes so long to get warm for the rinse.

lustydog

pdoff wrote:

we use bath water for baby, then top up for 3 year old (if he goes to bed as early as baby he wakes up too nearly so they can't share) then top up with kettle for us to have quick wash. we have no garden or plants to water so what else could we use old water for? instead of waiting for water to get warm enough to wash up i sometimes boil the kettle. is this just as bad as is using electricity?

We are currently diverting shower and basin water into a special tank which can then be used to flush the downstairs loo using gravity feed. If your really keen, you could flush the upstairs, using a bucket to fill the cistern ( this gives a better flush pattern ) Am looking at ways to pump the water back up but we@re looking at allround savings and this might defeat the object

lustydog

DebtlessDolly wrote:

When I was a kid my dad made all of us turn off the shower after we got wet, then turn it on again to rinse. He called it a Navy shower! The only problem is the water takes so long to get warm for the rinse.

This is a good system. You need to catch th cooler water in a large jug, it can then be used for almost anything except drinking. Sometimes these little tips seem a bit finnicky, but if we do get to dangerous low levels of water it will seem quite a normal thing to do

lustydog

pavlovs_dog wrote:

i think baths are not necessarily a bad thing. for one, it depends on how deep you run them, as the deper you run them, the more water you use.

Use the same rules for baths as you do in cooking. Just enough water to cover the vegetables