Whilst most of Britain is still waiting for the summer to begin after weeks of torrential rain, there are still a few areas in the UK under a hosepipe ban. Due to a sustained period of temperatures being warmer than average and low rainfall during the winter months many water reserves are becoming critically low. 
Some of us are lucky enough to have had the water use restrictions reversed, but the various water bodies are still encouraging home owners to do all they can to help protect this precious resource, which in turn will also have a positive impact by reducing home owners’ water and energy bills.
The reason why hosepipes are the first household item to be banned in periods when our water reserves are low is simply because of the incredibly high volumes of water they can use; up to 1,000 litres of water in an hour, which equates to what the average person uses in one week.
Whilst there are many water saving tips inside the home, there’s also a lot more we can do outside of it too, especially considering during the hot summer months up to 70% of water supplied to homes is used in the garden.
Improve your eco credentials by applying these 3 exceedingly green tips on how to reduce water usage in your garden
Install a water butt
Water butts are quite simply ingenious, thousands of litres of rain falls on our homes’ roofs throughout the year. For many this rain simply flows down the drain pipes into the drains and is a lost opportunity begging for the taking.
Installing a water butt, which is incredibly cheap and easy to do, can collect all this rain for home owners to use as and when they need to water their gardens or wash their cars. The other great news is that plants prefer rain water as it’s softer than tap water. So as well as reducing your water usage, which will result in lower energy and water bills, you will reduce your households’ CO2 emissions through being kinder to the environment and even your plants are going to appreciate you more!
According to Waterwise, an average of 85,000 litres of rain falls on roofs every year in the UK. Even small roofs can expect 4,000 litres of rainfall which results in a large water butt being filled 20 times during the year.
Use trigger nozzles on hosepipes
If installing a water butt isn’t possible or it just sounds like too much effort, then at least install a trigger nozzle on your hosepipe, taking this step alone can half the amount of water used. Better still, install a water butt and connect your hosepipe to that with a trigger nozzle.
Don’t water your lawn if it’s brown
After a prolonged dry, hot, sunny period lawns tend to go brown, but it is not necessary to water them, lawns are extremely robust and recover instantly when it rains, so the last thing you should do is water it. To help preserve a lawn in dry periods, cut it longer and less frequently, in addition, leave the cuttings as they help the lawn retain some moisture.
Taking these steps is another way to significantly help protect the UK’s water stocks and make a positive contribution to reducing the country’s CO2 emissions whilst at the same time reducing a home’s annual bills.
Simon Colley writes for Builder Guide, a leading UK resource where you can find information such as house wiring tips and recommended local electricians to complete the work.
The third tip is new to me. I never knew that. My husband installed a water butt a few months ago, and it does the same work. Saves water and can cut our costs because we have a water meter installed.
ok great. So this is about saving water and saving money in the UK but of course it applies to all other countries too.
However here in the UK not every household is on a water meter. SO… they have the same water bill no matter how much water they use and therein lies the problem. Water bills across the UK differ slightly according to the authority they are with but lets look at an average bill in my area. Its around £40 per month. And this figure doesnt alter no matter how much or how little water you use. If you have a water meter installed which you can do so free of charge then your water is metered and for many they can end up paying less.
However for households that use tons of water irresponsibly on their lawns and in a swiming pool for example it really doesn’tt pay them to have water meter does it? They can use gallons and gallons and gallons and still pay £40 per month.
Making water metering compulsary is an option then everyone has to pay if they use a lot of water. On the downside… it wouldnt bother wealthy people who would simply pay a lot of money to have that green lusciuis lawn and it would be hitting the less wealthy more.
Any ideas on this?
Water metering is a great idea Sue. But as you say the rich people who are not in the least caring for wastage wouldn’t be affected. They know they can afford to use as much water they want.
I have always said that rationing is the answer. I am not talking about rationing as being a very limited water supply but certainly it could be a certain degree that is reasonably acceptable practice. You watch them all get rid of their hosepipes and use enviro products for cleaning… WHY? because everyone will be making more effort harvest rainwater and save their “grey water” in water butts and be more responsible :-).