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Waste less water during the festivities this year

The festive period is an important time for many people who come together over the holidays. As much as we’d like for things to be “business as usual” this festive season, planning for Christmas 2020 requires a little more work to keep everyone happy and healthy. While Christmas will certainly look different this year, that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate Christmas safely during COVID. We must each continue to take personal responsibility to protect our loved ones.

Undoubtedly, it’s easy to focus on the convenience rather than how much waste is also being created. With parents taking more time off and kids on holiday school, the extra cooking and festive baking, our taps, toilets, dishwashers and washing machines really do end up working overtime adding a big surge in seasonal water consumption and the knock-on effect on our water resources and utility bills.

Here are some easy to implement water conservation tips, which will go a long way to using your water more wisely and which, can be put in place for the long term:

 

  • Change your showerhead to a water-efficient one and reduce by half your consumption of water when showering;
  • Turn off the water while shampooing your hair;
  • Fix leaky taps and always close them properly– even a slow drip will waste litres in a day;
  • Make sure your dishwasher is completely full before hitting the start button and don’t use the drying function on warmer days, when it can air dry;
  • Dishwashers typically use less water than washing dishes by hand so make sure you stack it well before switching on;
  • Wash your clothes in cold water to save water and energy and get those stubborn stains out before putting anything in your washing machine;
  • While you wait for hot water, collect the running colder water and use it to water plants. Put buckets under drains to catch rain water for your garden;
  • Water your garden when the sun goes down or before it even goes up to reduce losses of water by evaporation;
  • When watering plants use a watering can to make sure the water goes where it’s needed;
  • Don’t run the tap when washing dishes. Plugging the drain, filling the sink with soapy water, and scrubbing and rinsing from there can reduce the amount of water you use cleaning all those holiday pots, pans, and dishes;
  • Save water (and make that pile of laundry disappear a little faster) by only washing and drying full loads every time and using the appropriate setting on your machine to the size of the load you’re washing;
  • If you’re stuck for some inspiration for last minute gift ideas, then do look around at the water efficient gadgets available on the market. Tap aerators and water efficient showerheads are small and reasonably priced and perfect stocking fillers.

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