5 tips to reduce how much water you waste 

The coming heatwave over mainland Europe will no doubt have a large effect on Britain and Ireland too. While the thought of some sun will excite many Irish people, there are naturally a lot of consequences to prolonged periods of hot and dry weather. Ireland narrowly avoided dangerously low water levels during the prolonged period of dry weather last summer, if we get a similar spell of dry weather this summer it could lead to a real problem.

We as individuals can help to avoid water shortages by conserving the amount of water we use on a daily basis. If more people start to conserve water it will lead

Here are 5 easy tips that will make a big difference in cutting down your water usage on a daily basis.

• Put a bucket in your shower

Showers often take a while to heat up. We are all guilty of letting the shower run until the water has reached the desired heat.  Instead of just letting the water go down the drain, have a bucket near your shower and collect the water instead. Do it just once and you will see how much water you are wasting each time you shower. This water you collect can be used for watering plants, flushing the toilet or a plethora of other uses.

• Put a plastic bottle in your toilet tank

Take a plastic bottle and put a few stones in it,  then fill it up with water and close it up again. Put this bottle of water in the toilet tank. Ensure that it does not interfere with the workings of the toilet. By putting this in your toilet tank you can save up to 37 litres of water every day.  This is because it means that less water is needed to fill up the tank and as a result less water is needed for every flush.

• Flush less frequently

The toilet is without doubt one of the most water using fixtures in the house. The amount of water used in every flush is astonishing.   People often tend to flush more than is necessary however, it is not always necessary to flush every time you use the toilet or every time you need to dispose of a tissue.  Reducing the number of flushes in your household on a daily basis can go a long way to conserving water.

• Only do full loads of laundry and dishes

The dishwasher and the washing machine both use large volumes of water with every use.  They both use the same volume of water with every cycle no matter how full or empty they are.  This is why you should endeavour to only use the washing machine or dishwasher when you have a full load to wash.  This will in turn reduce the amount of loads you need to do in the long term which will end up saving quite a large quantity of water.

• Don’t leave the tap on when you shave or brush your teeth

A large amount of water is wasted every year from individuals shaving and brushing their teeth.  It is a very wasteful practise to keep the water running while you brush your teeth or shave. Next time you shave or brush your teeth turn off the tap while you do so.  Even for shaving a few inches of warm water should be all you need.  Although it may save only a small amount of water it does add up and if more and more people utilised this practise then it would lead to a huge amount of water being saved.