To ask you all to save water?

[BareBums]

I haven't seen a thread on this so thought I'd start one.
I don't usually care much for things like this tbh but I think when the situation could reach as serious as it did in 1975/76 it makes me want to do my bit.

So AIBU to ask you all to consider the water shortage and save water? Put a brick in your cistern, turn off the tap when brushing teeth, share baths or take quick showers, don't leave the tap running for washing up or washing hands, instead fill the sink with some water?

I'm not one for preaching where it's not wanted but it does effect us all so instead if thinking "well they won't bother so why should I?" can we think "They don't bother and that is why I should!"

Thanks for reading, hope I change at least one persons mind to save water! :)

The less water we use the more the water companies will charge for the water and not bother to fix leaking water pipes.

I think the only thing that will help is when all households are on a meter. I used to have an attitude of I can use as much as I want for £x. Now I live in a house with a meter I am much more cautious. Im quite proud of myself actually. Got my bill down to £27 from the average £40. I can't give up the baths though but I've tried to stop filling it to the top and constantly refreshing the water whilst I soak for hours.

I live in an area without drought and seem to live on marsh land so watering the garden is not a problem. I would quite like my garden to dry out!

I would counter that with if there isnt enough water, then there isnt enough. We can have all the principles we like but by not conserving now then we are cutting off our noses to spite our faces.

this report says river levels are similar to March 1976. Given the increase in population density in for instance the SE, this puts us in a rather precarious situation.

(was replying to ivykaty)

YANBU and it makes sense for everyone to conserve water, even where there is plenty, because it will save a lot of energy that is needed to make drinking water

For anyone who is going to bring up the leaky pipes and bad companies argument, I would like to remind you that there is such a thing is a water cycle and that groundwater is very much part of that. Leaking water pipes, maybe rather perversely, contribute to maintaining the water table, especially in cities where every bit of ground has been tarmaced over, so rain doesn't stand a chance to actually make it into the ground. In England much of the water out of the tap actually comes out of the ground, so leaking pipes aren't so much about wasting water, but about wasting energy (i.e. making potable water costs a lot of energy which gets wasted as it doesn't reach the customer). So yes, I am all for fixing the pipes, but it doesn't hold as an argument not to take personal action

More reservoirs also aren't necessarily going to do the trick if we keep having lower rainfall; and as someone else pointed out, moving water south will take huge infrastructure (which is likely to mess up plenty of watersheds; plus will have an effect on the environment up north) plus costs huge amounts of energy.

The problem is too many people in a place with limited amounts of water, taking water out of the tap for granted and therefore wasting considerable amounts -I wouldn't be surprised to see water refugees from the South East arriving up north in a decade or so

would be nice if our water board could do the same.

Making water safe to drink & transporting it to your door uses much energy & chemicals, too. Even if you live in a place with lots of water, it creates pollution indirectly every time you use tap water. So everyone should conserve, where possible, ideally, to minimise pollution & use resources wisely.

Can I use washing up water (no dishwasher) to water the plants?
Yes, though probably better if you use washing up liquid with minimal perfumes in it.

What about water that is left in the steamer or saucepans from cooking veg? Can that be used for the garden too? Yes, also can mix with fruit juice for toddlers to drink, or cook rice or make pastry with (not minging if next day). Full of vitamins that shouldn't be thrown away, too.

What water shouldn't we be using on our garden? Not Washing machine (clothes). Dishwasher would be ok, I think, but hard to recycle & minging to store.

it amazed me how much water I was wasting just from running the hot water tap. We use that cold water to flush toilets, often.

I too am interested in grey water - bathroom window is above my side alley so do I just suck on a hosepipe and pour it into a bucket below?

Yeah, but it's minging & hazardous to keep for long. You can bucket water out of the bath to flush toilets, or put a bucket in the shower to collect run off & flush using that. Warning: the hot water leaves more limescale than cold water.

For garden, Waterbutts to collect water out of the guttering are good, they get minging occasionally, we end up cleaning our butts every 2-3 yrs, but still much nicer than household waste water.

Consider adding guttering to sheds and garages if separate from your house, and connect to a water butt. We get loads of rain off our shed. And bizarrely, we collect a lot of rain on the canvas garden table and chairs cover. I drain it onto a large potting tray and dispense into watering cans. One night of rain collected a bucket and a half's worth!

Another thing I do is save up dirty dishes until there are enough for one washing up session (one washing-up-bowl full, no dishwasher here) rather than waste it for a few items each time.

We are also on a water meter.

It's not all about reservoirs and if our taps will run dry.
Our rivers & streams suffer when water is extracted for domestic supply.
Surely it makes sense to be as efficient as we can with finite natural resources??!

It really pisses me off when people waste water & energy just because they can.
YANBU.

It would be nice if the water companies could fix the pipes, and there was a way to move water from wetter areas of the country to drought areas, but trays not going to happen now, is it. So yes, of course we should be trying to save water now.

Also - what oricella said

The best long term solution to water shortages in the SE is for people to spread out across the country. No matter what water conservation/ management systems are put in place, concentration of population in one area is always going to be a huge problem with regards to resources.
Everybody should do there best to not waste water but the problem will continue if this country keeps up it's obsession with the SE. This year the general shortage is coupled with a dry spell which means more of a problem than usual.
Good easy water savers - Water hippo/brick in toilet cistern, reusing washing up water/ water butt on garden (be careful to use minimal detergent tho and do not store grey water it goes nasty very quickly) think about how much you use the washing machine and how you use it, (full load, when things are actually dirty, not just scooping up anything that happens to be on the floor)
Right enough preaching from smug non water shortage northerner

We're not even getting a hosepipe ban here

We recently had a combi boiler fitted. Where it might save on energy costs it certainly doesn't help in saving water. We have to run at least a bowl full of water away before it gets hot. We've had an engineer look at it several times and he says that just how these things work, they take time to heat up. How I wish we could have our old system back.

YABU

I think that every house should have a water meter. If people were being charged for what they are actually using then they might be more economical.
I have moved to a house with a meter and my bills have gone from £25 a month to £91 It is a bigger house and some arrears is included in that figure because the water company kept our monthly payments the same for a year before they read the meter.
But why should I have to subsidise other people's water usage? It doesn't happen for gas or electricity.

to add to what becclestown says: messing up our rivers and streams is not about wildlife and plants (OK, it is) - but it is very much about us: where do you think the water comes from? It doesn't all fall neatly into a reservoir for us to drink... the way we have changed the land, from monocultures to vast housing estates in greenbelts, has changed the capacity of the natural environment to hold water.. putting in more infrastructure is reducing that capacity even more, making us need more reservoirs.. it's a race to the bottom. We should be thinking much more about restoring our watersheds, making them capable of holding water at source and releasing it slowly downstream

halfpastwine, our combi boiler has an eco setting button to press. You can choose between more energy efficient, or more water efficient (it has a little preheated tank of water inside to stop that needing to run water off problem)

We are a family of 3 and our water meter bills each month are £20

YANBU

ohbadkitten - I would still conserve water, I really should be on a water meter but have never changed over - I use very little water, I am only in the bathroom for 5 minutes in the morning and that is showering and cleaning teeth

My point is though that cynically the water companies will continue to waste water and get the population to do there job for them, then when everyone is using less water and the profits are down then they will put the price up of water.

It has been the same with other utility companies - we use less fuel for gas and electric and the price is now higher.

I think some intervention is needed - a fair price for water but the companies must do repairs

Ragged Thankyou for your answers That is very helpful.

In response to a poster...no one made me "water monitor" I'm only asking others to save, not monitoring or forcing. I just think it is quite inmportant especially for our children who are already inheriting a lot of crap from our generation (and the generation before that). :)

*important

Sorry, another possibly stupid question. When using the water from steamer or saucepan should it be cooled down first or can it be put on the garden whilst hot? Apologies if I am being thick

Perhaps we should all have a water butt outside the back door, not connected to the downpipes, but just to collect cold water from the sink bowl that we've run while waiting for the hot to come through, and which otherwise would go straight down the drain, unused...

stick let it cool down