As large parts of the country are under a hosepipe ban, are household started thinking about saving water. Although we are not subject to a ban where we live, the more all of us can reduce water usage, the better.
On the radio heard some woman saying that she keeps her garden alive and green by using grey water. Since my garden is something I’ve put a lot of effort into the last few years, I thought this was a good idea.
So we’ve started looking at ways to save water. These are what we’ve come up with so far. Many of these have been picked up from years of working in the water industry and listening to other people’s suggestions.
Steam the veg. Been doing this for years because it saves waters, keeps more micronutrients in the food, and saves energy.
Save the cooking water. If we boil or steam anything, we drain it into a bowl not down the sink.
Keep a water butt fed by rain runoff. We have a 100L one from our small greenhouse, but today we’ve brought a new 210L one that we’re siting out the front behind a trellis of passion flowers. We’ve got to get a longer hose to feed the barrel from the downpipe, but that shouldn’t be too hard.
We use a bucket to collect the run off from the shower as we wait for it to warm up.
We keep a bowl and let water from hand washing collect in it.
We have fewer baths, but when we do, we drain most by bucket.
All that water then goes into storage butts, and is then used via a watering can to take care of the pots and lawns.
Simple things, but if it saves the garden, I’m happy. And if it helps save any more, great.
The Write Route 