12 ways to save water for World Water Week
The theme Seeds of Change: Innovative Solutions for a Water-Wise World invites us to rethink how we manage water.
Did you know that “water is the primary medium through which we will feel the effect of climate change” according to the UN?
As well as our domestic use, such as the water from our toilet and taps, there’s a water cost in the products and food we buy: one cotton T-shirt has about 2,700 litres of water embedded in its production, which is around 49 baths full of water!
Population growth, rising water use, and climate change will increasingly affect future water resources in the UK. If water efficiency action isn’t increased, the UK could be hit by water shortages by 2050 😰
Small domestic changes to help drive world change
In England, the average person uses 142 litres of water per day, yet there are 2 billion people around the world who don’t have access to clean water, toilets, or basic hygiene (United Nations). By making small changes, we can all become more purposeful with how we use this precious resource and look to raise awareness of global inequalities.
12 Pledges for World Water Week
Here are 12 ways we’re looking to take direct action in our homes this World Water Week 👇
World Water Week is running between the 20th and 24th of August. If you’re an OnHand Hero, get involved by picking up our pledges on the app. Let’s see who can save the most water!
In the Bathroom
Bathrooms consume more than 2/3rds of our domestic water waste, (Waterwise). Take these pledges on the OnHand app to reduce your water waste.
2-minute shower challenge 🚿
A typical shower use 10 litres of water a minute. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rise off. See if you can do this in 2 minutes rather than 10 to save a whopping 80 litres of water a day!
Turn off the tap 🚰
Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth – a running tap wastes approximately 6 litres per minute. Instead, just use the tap when rinsing, to save nearly 18 litres each time (based on brushing your teeth for 3 minutes twice a day).
Stop a leaky loo 🚽
Leaky loos are one of the most common causes of unexpected high water use in the UK. A leaky loo wastes between 200 and 400 litres of water per day – that’s a jaw-dropping 72,000 to 146,000 litres of water wasted every year – just from one leaking toilet.
To detect a slow leak, add a few drops of food colouring to your toilet cistern and don’t flush for around an hour. If the water in your toilet bowl is clear (with no food colouring) then you don’t have a leak!
Flush right! 🚽
More than 3.6 billion people around the world don’t have a toilet. Flushing your toilet efficiently is one way to make sure we continue to enjoy one of the privileges that water affords us in the UK.
Pledge to avoid flushing away cotton wool balls, makeup tissues, or disposable nappies. Simply throwing them in the bin will cut down on the amount of water wasted with every flush, and also protect our sewers.
Stop the drip 💧
Say no to leaky taps! Did you know that your dripping tap could be wasting you 5,500 litres of water a year — that's 15.5 litres a day 😱 Use this Water Week to pledge to get those leaks fixed!
Eco shower 🚿
Some energy-efficient showers have an eco-mode button, which is super useful for those looking to lessen their water and power consumption. This setting only heats the water to a comfortable temperature during the summer months. Next time you shower, try eco-mode!
In the Kitchen
Eco dishes 🍽️
A dishwasher on an eco setting can be more efficient than washing dishes by hand, but recent research shows that only half of people use the eco setting. Pledge to make sure your dishwasher is completely full and try out the eco setting to save around 3 litres less of water per cycle.
No dish rinse 🍽️
It’s a common myth that dishes should be rinsed before going in the dishwasher but today’s detergents will do all the hard work for you! Average households waste over 22,000 litres of water a year pre-rinsing. If you use your dishwasher 3+ times a week, that's over 180 litres a week saved!
Half full kettle ☕️
Try to fill the kettle with only what you need to make your cuppas! This will save water and energy and save from tipping precious water back down the sink. Depending on how many cups you have a day this could save you between 1 to 3 litres of water a week!
Reuse water waste💧
Reuse different types of waste water and reduce your water consumption for a month! Reuse water from washing/boiling food, from a hot water bottle, showering, and unused drinking water! This could be done by using it to water your houseplants and garden, or even washing your car.
In the garden
Install a water butt 🍑
The average UK household collects enough rainwater to fill 450 water butts, depending on its size. With a water butt, you could save tens of thousands of litres of fresh water. You'll be helping to conserve clean water for when people really need it (droughts are on the rise!) and you'll also be saving a lot of money. The Water Services Regulation Authority say it costs about £1.50 an hour to water a garden with a hose or sprinkler, which adds up considerably!
Raise awareness 📣
Pledge to share the facts and stats about our global water inequality to raise awareness of this issue. Just pick up this pledge, where we’ll have the facts and stats ready for you to share.
Supporting global wetland projects in Madagascar and Mozambique 🌱
85% of the world’s wetlands have been lost in the last 300 years, (United Nations). These are crucial for protecting against extreme weather and help us recover better from disasters,
We‘re proud to be supporting by planting mangroves in Madagascar and Mozambique amongst our other tree planting projects, to help with the reforestation of wetlands 🌱
Get Involved
Not yet with OnHand? Book a demo today to see how you can get your team involved.
If you’re already a partner, simply head to the app to get your team involved!