Saving water in your home

Water is a precious resource which needs to be used carefully. Water taken from rivers and lakes for human use has an impact on wildlife. You can help by saving water in your home and garden, and help the environment too

Flush less water down the toilet

Toilet flushing accounts for about a third of household water usage. You probably flush away as much water in a day as you drink in a whole month. There are easy ways to reduce this:

install a water displacement device (or 'hippo') in the cistern of a higher flush toilet – these reduce the amount of water used for each flush, typically by one or two litres
when buying a new toilet, choose a water-saving, low-flush or dual-flush version
fit a variable flushing device to existing higher flush toilets - this will give you a choice of flush volumes to help save water
throw cotton wool, sanitary products and other waste in the bin, not the toilet
Waterwise - Products (including hippos) to help reduce toilet water wastage
NIWater - Water saving in the bathroom

Switch to showers

A quick shower uses much less water than a bath.

fitting a water-efficient shower head reduces the amount of water you use by a further 30 per cent without compromising shower performance (these should not be fitted to electric showers as this can lead to overheating of the water)
avoid high volume power showers - you can easily use more water than if you had a bath
you can also fit a water flow regulator to your shower head. This can reduce the amount of water you use by 30 per cent without reducing the performance of your shower
How water wise are you? (PDF 254 KB)
Help with PDF files

Use water-efficient appliances

The amount of water consumed by dishwashers and washing machines varies considerably. All new dishwashers and washing machines have a European (EU) energy label which tells you the amount of water used per wash, and how energy efficient they are. Also, half-load cycles use more than half the energy and water of a full load.

You could also:

look for a washing machine that uses less than 50 litres per wash
look for a dishwasher that uses less than 15 litres per wash
fully load your dishwasher or washing machine before you use it
Household appliances that save energy water and money
Waterwise - UK washing machines ranked by water efficiency

Fix dripping taps and leaks

A dripping tap losing just two drips a second wastes up to 26 litres of water a day. Simple plumbing jobs can save a lot of water without being expensive:

fix dripping taps or overflows; a new washer costs just a few pence and can be fitted in minutes
install a leak dectector to warn you about leaks in your house
put lagging on your outside pipes to help avoid burst pipes and leaks in winter
NI Water - Water Efficiency

Save water in the garden

There are many ways of saving water in the garden:

using a watering can rather than a hose - a hose can use more water in an hour than a family of four uses in a day
buy a water butt to collect rain water for the garden – this saves mains water and the energy used to treat it
Saving water in the garden
Royal Horticultural Society - advice on saving water in the garden

Turn off the taps

Leaving a tap running while cleaning your teeth or washing fruit and vegtables can waste about nine litres of water a minute. Here are some ways to cut down on wastage:

the cold water that comes through before a tap runs hot can be collected for watering plants
keep a jug of water in the fridge instead of waiting for the tap to run cold
turning off the taps when you are brushing your teeth or shaving can save five litres a minute
wash fruit and vegtables in a washing up bowl full of water instead of running a tap

Another way to reduce water use is to fit an aerator or spray ends to washbasin taps. An aerator mixes air with water and can reduce water consumption by up to 50 per cent.

Make use of greywater and rainwater

Any water that has been used in the home, except water from toilets, is called greywater. Shower, bath and washbasin water can be re-used in the garden. Guidelines for doing this include:

only watering non-edible plants with greywater
making sure it is cool before you use it
avoiding pouring it straight on to foliage

You can also collect rainwater to use in your house for flushing toilets, washing cars, watering plants or even for the washing machine. For this you will need a large rainwater harvesting system. This must be linked to your domestic plumbing. More advice on rainwater harvesting can be found on the renewable energy centre website.

The wider issue

Climate change is affecting the environment for future generations. The population's use of water will change, wetlands which help with carbon storage will disappear, as the sea level rises flooding will become a huge danger.

Domestic water is treated before and after use, and heating water accounts for a lot of the energy used in homes. The more water used in our homes, the less is available in rivers, lakes and natural wetlands - threatening wildlife and the environment.