Cultivate water saving habits

Water saving habits are those easy-to-learn daily behaviours that can save us thousands of litres (and dollars) during the course of our lives.

Thousands of litres of pure fresh water are wasted every day by bad habits we have all developed. While the water we use at home may seem trivial (only 7 per cent of all water used in Australia) its conservation is a step toward increasing our knowledge and respect for this precious, life-giving resource – a resource all the living systems around us also rely on, and that we waste at their cost.

How to do it now!

Adjust your daily habits to save litres of clean fresh water (and dollars) every day.

  • Brushing your teeth. Use a glass of water instead of a running tap for wetting the brush and rinsing. A running tap can waste about 16 litres of water each minute.
  • Washing your body. Take a shower instead of a bath and limit your showers to a maximum of four minutes.
  • Shaving. Use a cup, sink or container of warm water to clean the shaver in rather than a warm running tap. Never shave in the shower.
  • Clearing dishes after the meal. Scrape and compost your food waste instead of rinsing it off plates and dishes.
  • Washing dishes. Rinse dishes in a bucket and use the water on the garden afterwards.
  • Packing the dishwasher. Don’t rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher (that’s what the machine is for).
  • Washing clothes. Ensure you only do full loads of washing, if possible using cold water and adjusting water levels to suit the size of loads.
  • Waiting for the warm water to arrive. Try and capture the water that flows out of the shower or tap prior to it being the right temperature and put it on the garden.
  • Fix dripping taps and toilets quickly. They can waste up to 13 litres of water a day.

To learn a new habit requires a few simple steps:

  1. Decide as a household the habits you’re going to establish and ensure everyone is on board.
  2. Set up reminders: try notes on the fridge and on the light switches. Empower the kids to dob you in (they’ll love it).
  3. Do the habit consciously for a week, then two, then it should be established and your unconscious will keep it going.
  4. At the end of each water billing period note the savings and reward yourselves.

Why is this action important?

Sustainable living guide