How Water Storage Solutions Can Help You Waste Less Water
Wasting water is a bigger problem than you think. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the average home wastes 90 gallons of water per day. That adds up quickly — 10,000 gallons of water per household per year, and over 1 trillion gallons if you tally the national average. Although most of the Earth’s surface is covered by water, only about 1% of it is freshwater that is suitable for drinking and domestic consumption. Overusing freshwater in households across the world has caused damaging consequences to the future of our planet. The more freshwater we waste in our homes the less we have to use it for agricultural use, affecting our food supply and species survival. Plants, animals and humans alike are part of one ecosystem. We as humans are reliant on plants and animals, which means that protecting and managing a precious resource like water is crucial to the survival of the planet. While you may think to yourself, ‘I don’t use or waste that much water’, the truth is that there are many ways in which we waste water in our households every day. It is crucial that we implement proper practices and water storage solutions in our homes to create solutions to reusing and recycling water. It all begins with collecting water and recycling it for a different purpose. These are all small changes that make a huge difference.
Here are some ways you may be wasting water:
- Running water while you brush your teeth
- It may seem like a small thoughtless action that you do every morning and night, however, you can waste up to 15 Liters of freshwater.
- Washing the dishes with running water
- Much like brushing your teeth, precious water is wasted down the drain by keeping it running while you wash your dishes. Rather than letting the tap run, fill the sink up for the dishes to soak and then wash them off.
- Dishwasher and laundry loads that aren’t completely full
- This means that your dishwasher and washing machine will be using a lot of extra water for nothing. Always ensure that you have full loads to wash to prevent water wastage and use eco settings where possible.
- Using a toilet as a bin
- This represents almost a third of a household’s total consumption, toilets are arguably the biggest source of water in your home. Every time a hygiene product, facial cotton or ear buds down the toilet you waste up to 26 Liters of water.
It’s small, subconscious actions like this that waste tonnes of water and ultimately contribute to the larger problem of the water crisis globally. It is our responsibility to put better practices into play to ensure that we keep our usage low and recycle water where we can.
How do I use water storage systems to recycle water at home?
Water recycling entails finding ways to reuse water around the house in creative ways to save on the total amount of water you use. This not only can improve your water consumption, but also save you a substantial amount of money every month on your water bill. It’s a win-win system that is attainable and sustainable. Unsurprisingly, you’ll need to make use of various water storage solutions
Keep a bucket in the shower
One of the easiest ways to collect water to reuse is by placing a bucket into the shower. Not only will this allow you to physically see how much water you may be wasting, but you can reuse this water to flush toilets, water the garden or even do the dishes!
Reusing water from old drinking bottles
If you look around and find that you have half-empty water bottles lying around the house, gather them up and use the leftover water for your plants! The earth will thank you for it and so will your plants. Here’s another tip: To avoid excessive plastic waste, drink from reusable water bottles or fill glasses up from large water bottles with a tap.
Gathering rainwater
One of the most effective ways to recycle water is to use the simple process of collecting rainwater. When the clouds go black and it starts to pour, leave a bucket outside to collect rainwater that can be used for flushing toilets, watering the garden, cleaning around the house, washing cars and so much more. To maximize the amount of water you can save, you can use polycans and drums to save large amounts of rainwater to use later. The more water saved the better!
Reusing vegetable and pasta water
After you strain the water from some freshly boiled pasta or vegetables, that water can be stored and used for better purposes. You can use a plastic basin dish to catch all the water that gets strained out to use especially in the garden. You can also save vegetable or pasta water to use as stock to prepare food! It will be just as delicious and it’s a small step in the right direction to save our precious resource.
You can begin making a difference by taking one small step to start saving water. Not only will you be helping the environment, but your water bills will significantly decrease, and you’ll be so in the swing of recycling water that it will become second nature. Get all your water storage solutions with Sanitize Today to begin changing the world one bucket at a time.
