5 more ways to save water

In my previous blog I wrote about 10 ways to save water. Since it’s become an even bigger thing due to even more severe draughts all over the world I wanted to do a follow up.

For me the 2 biggest savings from the previous blog are

1. putting a bucket in the shower and after 2/3 showers the bucket is full and we can flush the toilet 2 times or water plans in the garden and
2. shorter showers (max 5 minutes)

But there are more ways to save water, so here are 5 more things you can do.

1. Upgrade your dishwasher

Older dishwashers can use up to 20 liters of water per usage, a really good one can do it with 9. I thought doing the dishes by hand was better and in some cases it is, but with a full load it’s just better to use a (good) dishwasher. This quote is something that is very valid for our situation:

How long are you running cold water down the drain while you’re waiting for it to get hot?

It takes about 40-60 seconds for the water to get hot so doing that will just waste too much water every time you need it, so using the dishwasher is just more efficient in most cases

2. Skip a shower for 1 day week

Although probably not something that comes first to mind but, depending where you live in the world, it might be an idea to skip the shower once a while. This article from Bustle gives some good advice on when to skip it, mostly oriented towards woman, but the advice to skip a shower if you haven’t sweat at all is something to take notice of.

3. Take cold(er) showers

I’m not a fan of cold showers but taking colder showers is not only good from an energy perspective, but you’ll probably take shorter showers as a result. To be honest, I did start some time ago but couldn’t keep going, I just like a warm shower too much, but I did lower the temperature of the shower.

4. Skip the carwash, do it at home

Taking your car through the carwash can use somewhere between 45 liters and 450 liters depending on the type of carwash. Not arguing the quality which is often better than at home, but handwashing your car with just 3 or 4 buckets (not the hose) of water is saving a lot of water.

Good to mention that a (unknown) percentage of carwashes recycle their water, so it’s not always that black and white. More over, they are better at taking care of the chemicals being used. Which means that if you do it at home, only use environmental friendly products

5. Use a Quooker (like system)

Quookers are faucet systems that come with a tank of hot boiling water. The tank is powered by electricity which is cheaper, especially if you have solar panels. The idea is that (like I mentioned at 1) you don’t have to keep the water running from your faucet untill it gets warm. With a Quooker system you get instant hot water, thus saving valuable water.

The downside is is that this option is costly, but there are probably other option which support a similair tank.

Final thought

Writing about this subject was really insightfull and I learned quite some things. It was also very easy to start saving water without giving up too much of my ‘creature comforts’. I intend to do some more research and see what more we can do. However, having 2 kids does not make things easier. I might just have to buy a timer to reduce their shower time. Anyways, hope to get to at least 20 ways to save water.