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You can do our quick home
checklist below, or you may want to try out Banrock Station's on-line home
water calculator
via this link.
Every drop you save helps
our rivers, and leaves a few more cents in your pocket.
Once you've done this audit, why not go on
to do the
checklist to find out if you're polluting our
waterways ?
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Home water savings checklist
(Suggestion: you may want to print this out so
you can write on it as you work through, or maybe download it here as a
pdf file)
Everywhere:
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Do
you repair leaking taps straight away ?
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Kitchen:
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Do
you only use the dishwasher when it's full ?
(What's the water rating of your dishwasher ? The more stars the better !)
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Do
you have a small bucket in the sink to catch and re-use water while you're
waiting for the hot water to come through or from handwashing ?
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Do
your taps have flow reducers to avoid unnecessary high flows ?
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Laundry:
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Do
you only use the washing machine when you have a full load ?
(What's the
water rating of your washing machine ? The more stars the better !)
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Do
you have your laundry hooked up to a grey water recycling system ?
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Bathroom and en suite:
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Do
you have a shower timer on every shower in your house to encourage family members to keep their showers as
short as possible ? (Aim for 3 minute showers !)
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Do
you have a bucket in the shower or showers to catch and re-use water while you're waiting
for the hot water to come through ? Or maybe you have a grey water system
(see below).
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Do
you have a water saving shower heads ?
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Do
your family members turn off the tap when cleaning their teeth ?
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Do
you have your shower(s) and bath hooked up to a grey water recycling system ?
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Do
you avoid baths ? Or, if your family has them do you share the water, bucket
it out onto the lawn or have a grey water system ?
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Toilet:
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Do
you have a dual flush toilet, or toilets ?
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Do
you encourage less frequent flushing ('if it's yellow, let it mellow') ?
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Do
you repair your toilet straight away if it starts to trickle ?
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Swimming pool (if you have one):
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Does your pool have a cover to reduce evaporative losses ?
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Do
you refill your pool using tank water (if you have a tank) ?
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Driveway and other hard surfaces:
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Do
you sweep rather than hose down your driveway and other paved areas ?
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Do
you wash your car using a bucket, or go to a car washing facility
that recycles water ?
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Gardens and lawns:
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Do
have a grey water recycling system for watering your garden and lawns ?
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Do
you have a tank or bladder system to collect rainwater, to then use on your
gardens, lawns and pool re-filling (if you have one) ?
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Have you installed downpipe diverters to help water your garden ?
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Do
you mulch your gardens to help keep moisture in the soil ?
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Do
you have tap timers to avoid those forgetful moments ?
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Do
you have drippers or a similar irrigation system to reduce evaporate losses
?
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Do
you only water your gardens and lawns at night, or late afternoon ?
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Do
you avoid watering after rain, or when rain is forecast. Don't water
through habit, think about it
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Have you reduced the area of water-thirsty lawn, or maybe replaced it with
artificial 'grass' ?
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Have you replaced, or established your garden with water miser plants ?
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Do
you avoid over watering your pot plants ? Does the water run straight
through ? If so, it's being wasted, so maybe find some way to slow it
down or water less.
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There are 30 questions above. If you scored above 25, then you're
doing a great job and our rivers and wildlife thank you. Keep it up and see how close to 30 you can get.
Between 20 and 25. Not too bad although there is still scope to do better. Under 20, then your
home certainly has room for improvement. If your home or family scored
less than 15 (and you don't live in an apartment where there is no garden)
then maybe it's time to use this list to get a few more things happening.
After you've done this water
conservation audit, set your family a target to reduce water use by a bucket per day, or
maybe a bucket each. It all helps !
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