Water is scarce and we all have a part to play to conserve our resources and where better to start than in our own homes.

“There is a huge misconception that going green is a costly exercise, however, home owners can start by making small changes in their homes to curb their water consumption,” says Liza Watermeyer, retail and display coordinator at Tile Africa.

Current bathroom products allow home owners to save water while still offering stylish designs that will complement the contemporary bathroom. “These water saving fittings will not only save water, but can also help you save some money on your utility bill at the end of the month,” she says.

 The facts about water consumption in the home:

• A shower can use 20 litres of water every minute.
• A five minute shower can consume approximately 100 litres of hot and cold water. That is 36 500 litres of water a year if you take a shower daily.
• The largest daily user of water in our homes is the toilet. It uses approximately 11 litres of water when flushed and a family of four can use 176 litres of water when they use it four times per day.
• A washing machine can use up to 100 litres of water per wash cycle.
• For every tap that is constantly dripping, around 90 litres of water is wasted every week, that’s4 680 litres of water wasted every year.
• The average person in a developing country uses 10 litres of water a day whereas a person in a developed country can use up to 300 litres of water a day.

The facts about water availability:

• Locally in 2010, women spent, on average, more than double the time spent by men on collecting fuel and water for household use (Time Use Surveys, 2000 and 2010).
• In 2012 there were 4.4 million households that received free water. Of the 4.4 million households that received free basic water, 2.5 million were indigent and this number constitutes 71% of the indigent households (Source: Non Financial Census of municipalities 2012).
• Even though 90.3% of South African schools have access to water, 2 611 schools out of 22 391 schools have been identified as having unreliable water sources (NEIMS, 2011).

How to curb water consumption in the home:

• If you fit a flow regulator to your shower head you’ll reduce the amount of water you use by 50 percent or 18 250 litres and 640Kw a year. You can either invest in taps, mixers and shower heads fitted with aerators or retrofit aerators. They reduce water consumption without affecting the water pressure and amount of water delivered. A water flow regulator maintains a predefined, constant flow-rate regardless of the line pressure as it reacts to water pressure changes and adjusts to decrease the amount of water passing through. Pressure variations are compensated for and water consumption can be reduced from 30 to 10 litres per minute. Water-saving shower heads allow consumers to spoil themselves with larger shower heads as the size doesn’t influence the amount of water being delivered.
• Fix dripping taps.
• Opt for a dual flush toilet – it has a split flush button that gives you a choice of pressing the smaller button for a four litre flush, ideal for liquid waste, or the larger button for more substantial waste. Four times out of five you’ll only need to use the smaller button, giving you an average saving of three litres per flush.
• Insulate your pipes – this can be done with pre-slit foam pipe insulation which provides hot water faster and avoids wasting water while waiting for water to heat up.

“By making small adjustments in the home we can all contribute to conserving water,” says Watermeyer.

For more information contact Tile Africa on 0800 002 783 or visit www.tileafrica.co.za

Article Sourced from Get It Durban Magazine