Watering Down Our Waste - by Pat Kane

​Aaaah, the summer!
 
Brighter days (and smiles!), BBQs with pals, trips to nearby beaches, sandals and dresses all-day-every-day, kids playing outside, colourful cocktails, paddling pools… Wait! Paddling pools?
 
Paddling pools are one of summer’s favourites however they are also one of the main causes of water waste in Ireland.
 
But because we are all about enjoying life (and summer!) without harming our planet, I have decided to talk about how to avoid water waste during the hottest months of the year.
 
In general, we take water and water supply for granted when in fact supply is in high demand and of limited resource – did you know that only 0.3% of the Earth’s natural water can actually be used for human consumption?
 
Today, more than half of our daily water consumption at home originates from the bathroom and the toilet.

The good news is – water waste is something we can control... The bad news is – we need to get better at controlling water waste!
 
Let’s save water together, one drop at a time:
 

• TAP OFF! – Turning the water off when brushing your teeth is easy and the benefit is immense: by turning off the tap you can save up to 6L of water per minute.

 

• DOWN THE TOILET – Flush less and don’t use your toilet as a rubbish bin. Consider only flushing the toilet when you really need to, if you know what I mean!

 

• BATH? NAH… – Choose to have a shower rather than a bath as showers use only half the amount of water required for a bath.

 

• WAITING GAME – Don’t let water go down the drain while you are waiting for temperature to adjust when taking a show. Be brave & get in there!

 

• KITCHEN HACK – Do not use water to defrost foods. Make the most of the sunrays when defrosting your food.

 

• WASH IT – When washing clothes, make sure that you are washing full loads of laundry only. You are wasting a lot of water washing only half of a load. The same goes for your dishwasher…

 

• GARDEN – When watering the plants or your lawn, rainwater harvesting could prove to be beneficial to you. Leave a large bucket outside and wait for the rain to fill it up for you!

 

• SIPPING – Ask yourself “Am I going to drink that?” and only order water if you are going to actually drink it. Too many of us do it out of habit.

 

• CUPPA? – Don’t fill the kettle for the sake of it, only do it when you need it!

 
Water conservation is a must and everyone can play an important role, from a toddler learning how to brush her teeth to large businesses learning how to make and sell products in a more resource-aware manner.
 
It is essential that our water supply resources are conserved if we are to avoid restrictions and outages like the ones a lot of us faced during previous years.
 
Our planet will appreciate every drop (!) of help.
 
By Pat Kane, founder at reuzi, a one-stop shop for sustainable living offering a wide range of products and services to enable you to live in a more eco-friendly way.
 
Website www.reuzi.ie | Social Media @reuzi.ie