Everyday tips to save water

Every day we all use water – and we all NEED water.
Every day we need water to wash, cook, clean and run our houses. In the Hunter Region we are fortunate enough to be assured safe, clean drinking water. Many of us also have an enviable lifestyle, and we enjoy the benefits of time and labour saving appliances like dishwashers and washing machines. But this comes at a price - in our region:
• every home uses about 210,000 litres of water each year
• every person uses about 205 litres of water every day
• the overall consumption of water in the Hunter in the last year was nearly 62,000 million litres – enough to fill about 1.55 million backyard swimming pools
So we’re using a lot of water. But as we are all becoming more and more aware – water in Australia is a very limited and precious resource. What we all need to do is find ways of saving water so that all of us, including the future generations, can continue to enjoy a great lifestyle.
We have put together some easy to follow ideas that every one of us can use to make sure we don’t waste water, yet still take advantage of the great appliances and lifestyle that we can have while living in our beautiful region.

Our top ten water saving tips!

Throughout our site, you will find tips on saving water in specific areas, such as homes, gardens, schools and businesses.
To get you thinking about saving water, here are our top ten water saving tips:
1. Fix dripping taps.
2. Avoid using water if you don’t need to (e,g. sweep paths instead of hosing)
3. Turn the tap off when you can – don’t use running water to wash you’re your hands, clean your teeth, wash vegetables, shave, etc.
4. Fit aerator nozzles to taps - these reduce flow without compromising use.
5. Use water efficient appliances – make sure when you buy new dishwashers, washing machines, etc that you choose water efficient models.
6. Install dual flush toilets – some can use as little as three litres on the lower flush.
7. Take shorter showers – use a timer to help you monitor how long you are in the shower.
8. Always run appliances (washing machines, dishwashers) with a full load so that you do fewer cycles per week.
9. Think about ways to re-use household water on the garden – e.g. you can throw the dirty water on the garden, use washing machine water, keep a bucket in the shower.
10. Water gardens appropriately – don’t water lawns, don’t water in the heat of the day, do use water efficient plants, and do train plants to put down deep roots by watering less frequently.