6 Water Saving Tips for Summer Time Courtesy of ‘Hopeland’

By Duncan RobinsonWednesday 27 Nov 2019Hope BreakfastNewsReading Time: 3 minutes

Summer time is upon us again, and we need to conserve water!

So, to help you, on Hope Breakfast we got the ‘Hopeland Brains Trust’ (some of our trusty listeners!) to share their water-saving suggestions.

But before we get stuck into our tips, remember – Sydney, the Illawarra and the Blue Mountains are currently all under Level 1 Water Restrictions. That means a series of rules including:

• Watering of gardens is only allowed before 10 am and after 4 pm.
• All hoses used for watering must have a trigger nozzle.
• No hosing of hard surfaces, such as paths and driveways, is allowed.
• However washing of vehicles is and bins is allowed – but only using buckets, hoses fitted with trigger-nozzles, or high-pressure cleaners.
• Fire hoses may only be used for fire-fighting activities.

Other ways to save water include the following six great tips.

1 – Use Water-Saving Washing Machines

Did you know that some washing machines allow you to recycle the rinse cycle and use it again for the wash cycle? Rachel in Berowra collects the water from her rinse cycle in the laundry sink to use again in the next wash cycle. Brilliant! Some councils are even introducing a recycled water tap requirement now, in all new laundries. It is estimated you can save up to 70 litres a day, recycling some of the water in the laundry.

2 – Reuse Grey Water on the Garden

Christine in Northmead runs her laundry water into the garden to water her plants. Grey water does have some restrictions and Sydney Water has a pretty comprehensive guide.

3 – Save Cold Water From the Shower

Does your shower run cold for a while before it runs hot? Put a bucket in the shower and fill it up to collect the cold water as it runs out. Otherwise, you are essentially pouring perfectly good water down the drain while you wait for the water to heat up. One of our listeners Margaret from Jordan Springs, calculated that every time she has a shower it takes 15 litres of water wastage before the water heats up! With a four person family that is around 60 litres of perfectly good water that goes down the drain. Collect that water into a bucket to use elsewhere.

4 – Recycle Bathing and Cooking Water on the Garden

Don’t let the bath water go down the drain; scoop it on the veggie garden! Or on the lawn, the trees, or basically anything planted outside.  You can do the same with water you use to boil eggs, pasta, or vegetables; don’t pour it down the sink, and use it on the gardens.

Again see the advice for grey water for Sydney above.

5 – Limit Showers to 2 or 3 Minutes

My recommendation for showers is really simple. Take two minute showers; you can get a lot clean in 2 minutes. Or, make it 3 minutes, and as one listener recommends, make a playlist with your favourite 3-minute songs. Once you are through a song, the shower is done! Who doesn’t love a shower song?

6 – Use Rainwater for the Toilets

My last tip is to link your gutters up to use rainwater to fill up your toilets. That’s six litres of water you’re saving per flush, and you can definitely only use that water once!