In the home

Check your water bills: It is absolutely essential that you keep an eye on your water bills. If there are any irregularities or high charges then it could be a sign that you’ve got a water leak (in the UK 24% of water is lost through leaking pipes). You are responsible for the water that you use and if the leak is in your pipework then the water companies will charge you for all the water that comes out of those pipes!

It’s also worth knowing where your water valve is, so if you do have a leak you can immediately switch off your water supply until the leak is fixed.

Water Meters: A water meter has been shown to encourage people to be even more water efficient. Not only does it help the environment but you can get the added benefit of having smaller water bills too.

Stop the drop: If you have a dripping tap you could be wasting at least 5,500 litres of water every a year – that’s the equivalent of 2,750 bottles of 2 litre coke bottles! If you’ve got a dripping tap, mend it and save yourself up to £20 from your water bill.

Turning off the tap: A running tap uses over 6 litres of water a minute. So if you are cleaning your teeth or having a shave just remember to turn off the tap.  The same applies for washing fruit and vegetables, instead of running the tap, just fill up a bowl of water and wash the products. It does save water.

Dishwashers: Modern dishwashers can use as little as 15 litres of water per cycle, which is surprisingly less than people that opt to hand-wash dishes (which is around the 60 litre mark).

However, dishwashers still require an energy source and if you do not make sure that your dishwasher is full then you can end up using more water per item than if you were washing the dishes by hand.

Washing machines: It’s exactly the same principle outlined above for dishwashers...make sure that you wait for a full load, as opposed to two half loads and you will save money on water and energy! It’s all about changing your behaviour slightly and becoming more sustainable in your water consumption.

Keep the rubbish in the bins: Unfortunately a lot of people still use their toilets as a means of disposing rubbish. Tissues, cotton wool buds and other wipes can all end up down the toilet, which often results in an unnecessary flush and more wasted water. Simple solution, keep rubbish in a rubbish bin!

There’s a hippo on my cistern: Nearly 25% of water that we use in a home is flushed down a toilet. There are water efficient toilets out there and they work by reducing the amount of water that is used in a flush (also look for toilets with a dual flush option).

However, if you are not looking to replace your toilet a really easy solution is to place a water displacement device into the cistern – the most commonly used device is called a ‘hippo’ and it basically reduces the amount of water that goes into your toilet’s cistern. Water companies usually provide these devices for free, but if not fill up a bottle of water and place it in the cistern and this does exactly the same job – and it’s free!

Cleaning up your act: The average bath uses 80 litres of water, whereas as a short shower can uses as little as a third of that amount! However, try and avoid using a power shower, which can waste up to three times the amount of water as a regular shower!

If you are going to have a bath then make sure you use the leftover water on your household or garden plants