We are having a water crisis in Cape Town and actually across South Africa. With Cape water restrictions the toughest they have ever been, we are revving up water saving to try and reduce usage in each and every home in every possible way. Here are my top five water saving tips.
- Catch the water from running taps. Everyone turns the hot tap on in the shower or in the basin and then waits for it to get hot before using it. It is precious drinking water running down the drain, so intercept it. Have a bucket handy in the kitchen and in the bathroom to catch the water. Once the water is hot, take the bucket out and if it’s in the bathroom it can be used for the basin to brush your teeth, wash your face or shave. In the kitchen it can be used for filling the kettle, washing hands, washing vegetables or used to rinse soapy dishes after washing them. Some people shower while standing in a shallow bucket and save the dirty shower water for flushing the toilet.
- Have a ‘navy shower’. This is when you turn the shower off as soon as you are wet, lather yourself down with soap and then turn the shower on again to rinse yourself off. You literally halve the amount of water you use. Another option is to time yourself to only a 4 minute shower.
- Brush your teeth using a glass of water. Usually when teeth are being brushed, the tap is turned on, the toothbrush wet, toothpaste applied and the brushing commences. Quite often the water is left running for the duration of the whole exercise. The very least you can do is turn the tap off when you brush. The most you can do is fill up a glass or water (or scoop up a glass from the bucket from which you have saved the clean shower water), wet the toothbrush, brush your teeth and rinse using the water. With the other half of the glass, clean the basin after brushing.
- Control the laundry washing. Wait until you have a full load and do a wash as little as possible. Mike & I have managed to get this down to 2 times a week, but there are only two of us. What we haven’t got right yet is redirecting the washing machine water into buckets, which my clever friend Melanie does. She collects more than 6 buckets per load, which can be used for flushing toilets, washing the car or watering the lawn.
- Install some sort of outdoor receptacle to catch the rain when it falls. I was not sure Mike was in his right mind when he ordered our tanks at the start of the dry season. Surely that is what people do at the start of the rainy season, but Mike was on a mission and was absolutely compelled. What a stroke of genius it was. Our 3500 litres of tank water have been so helpful. He redirected gutters and the littlest fall of rain goes a long way to fill the tanks up. As we move through the driest, hottest month of the Cape Town calendar (February), our tanks are full and we are able to use this water for a number of useful things.
I’m sure there are lots of other hints and tips for saving water, but those are the first 5 that are making a difference to our water bill.
What are yours?
John 4:14
Whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
There is a more significant water when we have a relationship with God.
#186 of my 1000 thanks is for Mike’s foresight for putting in the tanks.
#187 of my 1000 thanks is for a spectacular summer’s day – blue sky, sunshine, birds and a gentle breeze.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going!
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂