Wayne Water gives his tips about water – how to save it and how to use it wisely.
As you know, we’re often on water restrictions in many parts of Australia, but if you live somewhere where you’re not on water restrictions you should still be saving as much water as the people who are on water restrictions. It might rain one day, but the next day it’s sunny again, so every precious drop that falls from the sky should be saved because you just don’t know when it’s going to rain next time. It’s not only rainwater that we should be collecting and storing — we must learn to recycle all the house water, too. Water you collect from the house is called greywater, which you can use on your lawns and certain garden plants. If you want to use greywater on the garden, though, it’s important to make sure Mum and Dad are not using soaps with strong chemicals in them. If they are, tell them to buy organic soaps so you can still wash happily but it’s safe to use the greywater in the garden.
Wayne’s tips:
- Add mulch to your garden and you will reduce the amount of water your garden needs by at least 30 per cent.
- Use environmentally friendly soaps so you can use the greywater from the laundry and shower on all your plants.
- Place shade cloth over your water barrels to stop mosquitoes breeding in them.
- Use plastic pots with the bottoms cut out and press them in the ground around small plants to help hold the water in.
- Every shower you have will give you at least five toilet flushes, so connect your shower outlet to recycle the water back into your toilet.
