Saving water isn’t as hard as you may think. From the simple to complex, there are numerous solutions to ensuring that you can save and re-use your water.

Water-saving can save you money and diverts less water from our rivers, bays, and estuaries which helps keep the environment healthy. It can also reduce water and wastewater treatment costs and the amount of energy used to treat, pump, and heat water. This lowers energy demand, which helps prevent air pollution.

It’s not just the dry western areas of the US which need to be concerned with water efficiency. As our population continues to grow, demands on precious water resources increase. There are many opportunities to use household water more efficiently without reducing services. Homes with high-efficiency plumbing fixtures and appliances save about 30 percent of indoor water use and yield substantial savings on water, sewer, and energy bills. Start saving today.

Water Butts: Hooked up to your rainwater down pipe from your gutter, a water butt (or two) can be used to collect and store rain water that lands on your roof. You’ll be able to use this water on your garden and it’s got far more nutrients in it than water from the tap. This has the added effect of stopping the waste of rain water in Cities, where combined sewers (those carrying rain water run-off and sewage) are used. It may also reduce the possibility of localised flooding in built up areas.

Bath water: It’s not a bad thing to collect bath water for use in the garden. Bath water end up using the same pipes as your sewage, meaning it enters the sewer and runs on to local treatment plants before entering rivers or the sea. Resue will in effect cut your water costs if you’re on a meter and cut down on the water entering rivers. If your mains water comes from aquifers (underground water reservoirs) then chances are some of your bath water will percolate down through the ground into the aquifers for re-use. This is pretty cool actually as plants, bacteria and rocks in the ground will remove and convert any chemicals into harmless substances before it reaches the aquifer.

Cutting down on the Concrete: Paving over your front garden with concrete isn’t the best idea. Water run-off from concrete is simply diverted into the local drain and either ends up in soak-aways (large gravel beds built undeerground to atemporarily store water whilst it percolates into the ground) or the nearest river. Replaceing concrete with a gravel driveway means that water can enter the ground locally to your garden, keeping the soil slightly moist over longer periods. It also prevents localised flooding around your house.

Build a pond: If your garden gets rather damp or flooded, you could (like us) consider building a pond/ bog garden at the end of the garden. If you then lay a perforated pipe under the ground along the length of the garden and into the bog area, it’ll drain the garden of any excess water. This needs special care to ensure the pipe is laid on a slope towards the bog area. If the pipe’s end is lower than the bog area, it’ll need a small pump installing- which we suggest is wind or solar powered for cost efficiency.

Recycle all your water: Effluent can be treated very easily by passing it through a reed bed. Of course, a pretty large plot of land is needed to do this, but the result is that ALL your waste water can be recycled. Then, once a year or two, it can be cleared out and put as compost on the garden.

Other Solutions:

Stop leaks. Check all water-using appliances, equipment, and other devices for leaks. Running toilets, steady faucet drips, home water treatment units, and outdoor sprinkler systems are common sources of leaks.

Replace old toilets. The major water use inside the home is toilet flushing. If your home was built before 1992 and you haven’t replaced your toilets recently, you probably could benefit from installing high efficiency toilets that use 1.6 gallons or less per flush. A family of four can save 14,000 to 25,000 gallons of water per year by making this change.

Replace old clothes washers. Washers are the second largest water user in your home. If your clothes washer is old, you should consider replacing it with an ENERGY STAR qualified clothes washer. Most ENERGY STAR washers use 35 to 50 percent less water and 50 percent less energy per load. To save more water, look for a clothes washer with a low water factor. The lower the water factor, the less water the machine uses. Water factor is listed on the qualified product list Excel.