Sustainability Street
Institute Inc.
228 Kerr Street
Fitzroy VIC 3065
+61 3 9416 4293
+61 3 9417 2859
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water
Hot Tips!
• Learn GaBaToiLaKi! Garden=30% (of water use around the home), Bathroom=25%, Toilet=20%, Laundry=15%, Kitchen=10%
• There are two piping systems from our homes: to the sewers and to the waterways.
• All drains lead to our local waterways: creeks, rivers and oceans, so we have to be careful about what we allow down the drain. Drains are for rain!
• Sinks in the home, the toilet and the shower lead to the sewer where they are treated and flow back into the waterways. The cleaner this water is, the less we have to treat and the cleaner the water is when it flows back into the waterways.
In the Garden
• Plan your garden carefully to reduce water use in the future!
• Use a broom to clean paths. Concrete will not die without water! Concrete only requires water the day after it is laid down … beyond that it will NOT crack without water!
• Mulch your garden and mulch again! Mulch helps to retain water in the soil and can be made in your very own compost bin with your own vegie scraps.
• Too much lawn uses too much water. To keep your lawn green, aerate it and water only twice a week to encourage the roots to spread deeper.
• When mowing the lawn, don’t cut the grass too short. Leave at least 2cm to allow the grass to protect itself from the sun.
• Drains are for water. Never tips paints, sump oil or other nasties down the drains
• Water at night to stop evaporation losses
• Water less often, but more thoroughly – it saves water and is better for the plants
• When using a sprinkler, place an ice-cream container underneath. When it has 10mm depth of water, your garden has had enough.
• Group plants with similar watering needs
• Plant wind breaks to reduce the drying effect of wind
• Drought? Plant local native plants that are used to local conditions: they’ll need less water
• Drip water rather than sprinkling!
• Install water timers on your garden taps!
• Wash your car on the lawn: stop any chemicals or soaps from going down the drains to our waterways. And use a bucket, not a hose!
• Install a water tank in the garden to collect water from the roof
In the Bathroom
• A bath uses two and a half times the water that a shower does!
• A three-minute shower is all you need. Time yourself!
• Install a flow restricting shower rose and save up to 28,000 litres of water each year!
• Turn off the tap when brushing our teeth!
• Put a bucket under the shower while the water warms up and reuse that water in the sink, toilet or garden!
In the Toilet
• Dual flush toilets save heaps of water! Single flush toilets can send up to twenty litres of clean, treated drinking water to the sewer! A dual flush can save 36,000 litres each year.
• We can also put a plastic drink bottle full of water in the cistern to reduce flow by the volume of that bottle.
• “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down!”
• Place some food dye in the cistern. If the bowl becomes coloured without flushing the toilet is leaking and in need of repair.
In the Laundry
• Front loading washing machines use much less water than top loading
• Only wash a load when the machine is full
• Reuse the washing machine water on the garden (greywater). Ask your water authority or environment group for assistance as there are some ‘grey’ issues!
• Phosphate free detergents are good as too much phosphate in the waterways causes eutrophication (which is not good!)
In the Kitchen
• Only use the dishwasher when it is full. Or do the family hand wash roster!
• Rinse plates and vegies in a sink of water rather than a running tap
• Aerating taps are cheap and can reduce flow in the kitchen sink by 50%
• Think: less water when cooking!
• Garbage disposal units in the sink are bad! They use more water and put more rubbish down the sewer! Compost food scraps!
General
• Check your home for water leaks: read your meter last thing at night and first thing the next morning. If there is a change in the reading you have a leak! 10 drips a minute from a leaking tap wastes 3000 litres of water a year.
The Sustainability St project has been building better relationships with each other and building a much better relationship with the natural world are the greatest challenges of human history - Sustainability Street ... a new reason to be neighbours.
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