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! :)

Thanks Mousy

ivykaty - I tink you are mixing up two different issues,(1). we are running short of water (2) the way our society is structured in dealing in goods and services (aka capitalism). Without getting too much in issue 2 (I wouldn't be surprised if those massive company shareholder profits are propping up my meagre pension fund), as I said before, leaking water pipes do not necessarily mean a waste of water as it is still part of the system. Underground water is important too, even if you don't see it.

When you say that the water companies "get the population to do their job for them" what do you mean by "their job"? Their job is not to save water - their job is to deliver it to your home in the most efficient and cost effective way. If there isn't enough water to go round, than that becomes a problem.. Were water a state run, non-profit institution, with the rainfall we have, we'd still have water problems in the South

Our society is hugely mixed up in the way it views water - we don't think twice about paying a quid (or 2) for a bottle of Evian or Perrier that has been packed 100's of miles away and trucked over here, but we hardly rate the stuff that comes out of the tap...

moonbells maybe we could use this water to flush the toilet?
I am astounded that we use drinking water to flush the toilet. What a waste

just be happy that you don't live somewhere with two water meters. one for drinking water and one for the waste water (as they have in some european countries)

That's great lockets

When I move I think I will get a meter in. Sounds like as long as you're efficient it works out cheaper.

StickaFork - we use the water from the steamer to make the gravy.

I'm getting a rain water butt as a result of this thread. Also as I want to grow blueberries and they like rainwater

yonwhalefish we got ours at a discounted price from our local council's website
it's worth a look
we have four slimline butts, 2 at each drainpipe in the back garden, joined together with a linking kit
they fill up pretty quickly when it rains. I live in the nw- it rains a lot here

youwhalefish glad I made a difference :)

For those wanting to get butts, the slimline ones are lovely but aren't what the local councils usually subsidise. We don't have the space near our downpipes for anything other than slimline!

Be careful about the base tap connectors. If you're going to put the butt on bricks or breeze blocks, then you can raise it enough to get a watering can underneath and it doesn't matter if it's a plain tap or a hosepipe connector tap. I chose a butt with a standard hosepipe connector on the tap so can use a small length of hose legally to fill cans or water nearby pots. Least it was legal to use up to a metre of pipe - even off the tap! - to fill cans last time we had a ban... (must check if that's changed)

I am using dishwater on garden and getting a butt.

Has anybody done the sucking on a hosepipe to get bathwater out of a 1st floor window? I take a bath once in a blue moon but I'm interested. I'm thinking it would take a LOT of sucking?

slippery no it doesn't take a lot of sucking, think long straw...once it flows that's it gravity at work.

I've bought a round washing-up bowl for the bathroom basin, so we can reuse the water from hand-washing, teeth-brushing, and general rinsing, instead of just letting it drain away.

It occurs to me that a top-and-tail bowl might fit some bathroom basins perfectly.

Thanks insancerre, I too am NW!

Not a chance I'd share a bath,you can't get nice and clean from dirty water. Where I am there are no water shortages, so nothing to worry about anyway.

I do what is sensible anyway, but I think a lot of people must be very wasteful. We have just had a meter installed (not by choice) and our 5 person household usage level is officially 2 person household low usage!! (we don't smell, honest). So from that point of YANBU and more people should be moved to meters.

However I will not be changing my usage. I think they have built too many houses in too many stupid places and a proper water shortage might make planners pause before continuing to make it worse.

If the Government stopped giving everyone an incentive to live in the SE of England, there wouldn't be a problem. I agree you shouldn't be wasteful with water wherever you live, but some areas so have much bigger issues than others.

Some areas have greater/lesser rainfall than others, and greater/lesser numbers of people making demands upon the reservoirs.

But, however much rainfall there is in your region, and however few people live there with you, it does still take energy to clean it, and render it drinkable.