AJ’s advice – saving water
| May 5, 2012 | Posted by Alaa Jasim under AJ's Advice |
Water is an undeniably important resource, and using lots of water uses up lots of energy, creating greenhouse gases and that whole global warming thing. In fact, one of the largest contributors to greenhouse gases is the use of hot water. Everyone uses a lot of water, and maybe it’s time we started considering just how much: the average person in England and Wales uses 150 litres of water every day. By 2020, the demand for water could increase by 800 million litres a day. Saving on water can help the environment and can save you money. Here are my top tips on saving water:
Don’t fill the kettle right up
Only use what you need: there’s no point boiling a litre of water when you only need 400ml of it. Boiling water takes a surprising amount of energy, so don’t boil in excess and you could save some power as well. Maybe even just take a second to think: “Do I really want that coffee, or am I making it for the sake of making it?” I know, I know, students live off caffeine, but if you’re not sleeping well (yes, dear reader, I know I talk about sleep far too much) then skipping that coffee could do you a world of good.
Keep some bottled water in the fridge
It’s easy to waste a lot of water by leaving the tap on and waiting for the water to run cool. Keeping water in the fridge ensures that you always have some cold water handy. Alternatively, if you don’t want to do that, collect the water while you’re waiting for it to run cool and use it to water a plant. If you have one. Most students I know don’t… Actually, yeah, just bottle up some water.
Don’t leave the tap running while you brush your teeth
Or shave, or anything like that. These activities can waste up to six litres of water a minute, but it doesn’t really take long to turn a tap on and off. This one’s pretty self-explanatory: tap off, water saved; tap on, water used. Simple, no?
Shower, don’t bathe
A five-minute shower uses as little as a third of the water that a bath would. (Unless you have a power-shower, which is unlikely.) Showers are also quicker than baths, so you can spend a little longer sleeping (sorry! Sorry! I’ll stop) and a little less time in the bathroom in the mornings. You could probably also leave the house a little earlier, especially if you’re one of those people who is always late.
Droughts
Apparently, in spite of the ludicrous amount of rain that we’ve been receiving recently, parts of the country are still in drought, so we need to save water. It’s always nice to do a little bit for the environment, and if you’re switching from regular baths to regular showers, or putting a wee bit less in the kettle, you’re not giving much up. If everyone does their bit, we’ll save a lot, which is a great thing.
That’s all from me for now. Thanks for reading, and as always feel free to get in touch; questions, comments and suggestions are always welcome. See you next time!
All excellent advice. Unfortunately the people who are conscientious enough to do these things probably already do, and most other people just won’t want to inconvenience
themselves until the taps actually run dry. Still, worth trying.
You forgot the ultimate water conservation tip – drink your own urine!
Thank you, sir. Yes, I thought it might still be worth trying. And… to be fair, I’m not sure how many people would be… “down” with drinking their own urine.
-AJ