Households
Water and energy saving at home
It doesn’t matter what time of year it is there are so many simple ways to save water which do not require a major lifestyle change. We’ve listed our top tips for saving water below. In many cases, following these tips will also help you to save money on your energy bills as well.
If you want more information, check out the Waterwise website.
Our top water (and energy) saving tips:
Check for leaks
Compare your bills over a period of time. If they have gone up for no reason then you may have a leak and you should contact your company for more information about what to do next. You can also check for signs of leaks such as damp patches inside or green patches outside.
Replace worn washers on leaky taps
If you are metered, this will help to keep your bill low. Repairing a dripping hot water tap could also help to reduce your energy bill.
A dripping tap can waste enough water in a year to fill a child’s paddling pool every week of the summer.
Use a full dishwasher or washing machine before turning it on
Avoid using the half-load settings, which use more than half the energy and water of a full load.
Run your taps less
Turn off the tap while you brush your teeth and applying soap when washing your hands.
A tap left running wastes about six litres of water every minute.
Have a shower rather than a bath
Turn the water off while you soap and shampoo; then run the water again to rinse.
Running your bath an inch less deep than usual will save, on average, five litres of water.
Shorten your shower
Reducing your shower from 10 minutes to 4 minutes will save more than 300 litres of water every week.
You could go one step further and install a water saving shower head, which can cut the amount of water used by about 30%.
For every minute less you spend under your daily shower you could shave between £5 and £10 off your energy bills over the year.
Talk to your water company about water efficiency
Water companies will offer advice and even water efficiency devices to help you save water. Find out more.
Use rain water to water the garden
A garden water butt or a water barrel will capture and store rain water. You can then use this to water your garden. The average house roof in the UK collects enough rain water in a year to fill about 450 water butts.
Reducing your grassed and planted areas will also help.