Everyone knows climate change and a plentiful water supply aren’t necessarily the best of friends. So it’s more important than ever we all do our part to conserve this precious resource.

Lucky for us, there are plenty of ways to save water, none of which are particularly challenging or restricting. Before you get too excited, know that we’re not here to advocate for the “if it’s yellow let it mellow” rule.

Saving water in 2018 doesn’t have to be synonymous with living off the grid or eschewing normal hygiene practices, like flushing the damn toilet. In the interest of saving the earth and a few dollars from your water bill, here are six creative and easy ways to help conserve water around the house.

1. Choose The Right Plants

Our native flora quite literally loves a sunburnt country, so they’re the obvious plant choice for A) accidental plant murderers and B) those with a mind for saving water.

Fill your house and garden with natives (wattles, bottlebrush, or wildflowers), ignore them, watch them flourish and shave a few bucks off your water bill all the while. Everyone wins!

While we’re talking plant life, try watering outdoor plants early in the morning before 9am. Cooler air temperatures mean less evaporation, so you’ll use less water overall.

2. Reuse Your Cooking Water

Don’t even think about pouring your cooking water down the sink! The water you use to cook most vegetables can be salvaged and made into a stock or used as a base for a delicious sauce.

It can be returned to the earth, too, as nutrient-dense water for your plants or herb garden. Use it ASAP after cooking though, or risk coming home to three-week-old forgotten-about broccoli water that not even your plants will want.

FYI: perhaps the best type of reusable cooking water is that from potatoes. Use the starchy leftover water to fluff up mashed potatoes or to enhance bread or pizza dough.

3. Cut Down On Your Shower Time

This one is pretty simple but ridiculously effective. Almost a quarter of all household water in Perth is used in the shower, so cutting down on your shower time can have a huge impact on saving h20.

There’s no time like the present for kicking bad habits – so set yourself a challenge to cut your shower time down to a speedy four minutes – a bunch of Aussie artists have even made a 4-minute long song to help you do it.

4. A Toilet Is Not A Bin!

We’re all guilty of scoring a few three-pointers with used tissues in the toilet bowl, but in the interest of saving water it’s time to cut the crap. Reserve flushing the toilet for things that can’t legally go in a bin, and you’ll save at least 3 litres per flush. Remember to only ever flush the 3 Ps – That’s paper, pee and poo, folks.

On the topic of flushing, everyone reading this already uses the half flush button, right? RIGHT?

5. Keep A Bottle Of Water In The Fridge

While it may not seem like much at the time, the water wasted while you’re waiting for the tap to cool down for that refreshing glass adds up. To bypass this, fill up a glass bottle with water at the beginning of each day, whether you’re at home or at work. Cool AND classy – just how we like it. Also, you’re doing your bit for the planet by avoiding plastic water bottles – warm-and-fuzzies all round!

 

6. Water Your Garden With That Leftover Pool Water

Look, we know. WE KNOW. Kiddy pools rule and make summer in the city that much better, so we’re not here to remove all the joy from your life.

When you’re done luxuriating in your inflatable pool, remember to use that H20 to water your lawn or garden instead of chucking it down the drain. Same goes for that Esky water you have left over after a BBQ – your plants deserve an ice-cold drink, too.

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(Lead image: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off/ Paramount Pictures)

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Visit watercorporation.com.au/theshowersong to learn more about the artists leading the four-minute shower movement and to listen to the Shower Song.