These days in our household people use more than 70% of the water during toilet and bathroom activities. About 5 percent of all domestic water consumption runs from the water closet into the sink and eventually into the sewer. A shower timer is an easy and simple way to consider your water consumption. About 40 percent of all domestic water consumed is used to flush toilets. Its always an efficient way to capture and reuse the lavatory water. A United States water saving company called Water Saver Technology has developed AQUS.

AQUS is a simple system which uses water coming out from bathroom sinks and kitchen sinks to flush toilets (1). AQUS can help individual households, hotels, schools, commercial buildings, government structures and multi-family complexes save volumes of water. It is can be ideal for typical single and multi family homes, Corporate and Commercial properties, Eco-friendly buildings, underprivileged water districts, water districts which provides conservative incentives.  It is hardly noticeable and there is no change to the normal operation of your lavatory sink and toilet. And it is also easy use: AQUS is simple to install and requires minimal annual maintenance.

It has been reported that AQUS can reduce metered water usage in a two-person household by about 10–20 gallons a day – or approximately 5,000 gallons a year(1).  In addition to water conservation Aqus helps save a lot of money, reduced water consumption charges and wastewater treatment or sewer fees.   According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Water, more than 4.8 billion gallons of water is flushed down U.S. toilets each day (2). The American Water Works Association estimates that if water–saving features were installed in every U.S. household, water use would decrease by 30 percent. That would reduce daily water used by about 5.4 billion gallons, resulting in $113 million dollar–volume savings a day (2).

The Household test results speak volume about this innovative technology. In 2004, Water Saver Technology conducted a 24 hour, 20 household tests to determine the various contaminants, and volume of fresh water which goes down to bathroom drains (3). The contaminant data was used to develop treatment options to make the reused water safe for pets and people. 6 households tested used in excess of 9 gallons of fresh water per day in their lavatory sink. The average of these was 12.5 gallons. The range of fresh water savings is between 3,500 and 6,500 gallons of fresh water per year and an equal amount of wastewater savings (3).  Another six households (30%) used between 6 to 8 gallons per day. This amounts to 2,200 to 3,000 gallons of fresh water per year and an equal amount of wastewater savings. The remaining eight households used less than 6 gallons per day.

This method serves as a great means to control water loss and encourage water conservation. As a result, it can be recommended to be applied in under developed countries in Africa and South Asia where water scarcity is a major issue. This technology can act as a major positive influence towards the uplifment of the standards of environment and public health.

There are other methods and products you can purchase that will help you save water within your home, have a look at Energy Saving Warehouse’s range.

(1) http://www.watersavertech.com/AQUS-System.html

(2) http://water.epa.gov/

(3) http://www.watersavertech.com/Household-Savings.html

A recent study ^[1] carried out by the Environment Agency (EA) has demonstrated that the major greenhouse gas emissions associated with the supply-use-treatment cycle of water use in the domestic sector are during the ‘use’ phase of water with 89% of emissions attributable to water use in the home. With this in mind, it is important that we ensure to take a more efficient approach to the water using activities within the home and also the wider built environment in order to, ultimately, combat the uncertainties of climate change by reducing the amounts of CO² emissions released into the atmosphere. An easy way to get you or your family considering their water consumption is to buy a shower timer.

One example of a water using activity within the home and also the wider environment is the flushing of toilets and urinals. It is suggested that toilets and urinals account for approximately 30-40% of domestic water use and up to 90% for offices and public conveniences. This article will take a closer look at water saving technology relating to the specific water using activity of flushing toilets and urinals.

Technology

Variflush

Variflush technology works by interrupting the operation of a typical toilet cistern siphon simply by introducing air to it. A small drill hole is made in the top of the siphon and a pipe is connected to it, so that air can be fed from the variable flush device into the top of the siphon to interrupt its operation. The Variflush system allows the user to set the quantity of water used in each flush and to use the system couldn’t be easier, the user simply sets the system to their desired setting (Minimum, Medium, Maximum – quantity of water used each flush) and flushes the toilet. By fitting Variflush technology to your toilet cistern you will be able to significantly reduce the amounts of excess water that is wasted in over-flushing.

Hippo Water Saving Cistern Bags

The typical modern toilet cistern uses in the region of around 7 to 8 litres of water every flush which is far more than what is actually required to flush a toilet effectively. The Hippo water saving cistern bag technology works by placing a robust polythene bag (Hippo bag) inside of a toilets cistern. Each time the toilet is flushed, around 3 litres of clean water is saved within the Hippo bag preventing it from being flushed into and down the toilet. A small hole is present at the base of the bag in order to prevent the water becoming stagnant.

Water Efficient Toilet Cisterns

Water efficient toilet cisterns are more fundamental in their approach to saving water when flushing a toilet compared to the previously mentioned water saving technologies. Water efficient toilet cisterns save water by simply being available in smaller water volume sizes, which in effect, minimises the amount of water a toilet has available to use in order to flush. If you are interested in more ways to save water within your home then why not have a look at Energy Saving Warehouse’s range of water saving products?

References

[1] Environment Agency (2008a). Greenhouse gas emissions of water supply and demand management options. Science Report

Nanotechnology itself should be imagined at a tiny level: one nanometre is a billionth of a metre, meaning it is about 40,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. [1]

It is suggested to be applied in three areas: at “water treatment and remediation, sensing and detection, and pollution prevention”, according to Professor Eugene Cloete from the University of Pretoria, South Africa. [2]

Nano-membranes can help at water filtering, while specially developed nanomaterials can support remediation and also work at the disinfection of water. [2] Also, nanoscale titanium dioxide (TiO2)  could be applied to remove arsenic from water. [3]

One solution used for water treatment are carbon nanotubes. These are one-atom thick cylindrical carbon sheets, which could be applied at desalination and also at water purification. Thanks to their large surface compared to their size, their capacity could be enormous, and they may even be ideal for filtering out water-soluble drugs. [4]

The most recent innovative example is the “nano tea bag” with special nano-fibres that filter contaminants from the water, and contains activated carbon aimed at killing bacteria. Developed by South African scientists, this is a great opportunity and affordable solution for communities, where clean fresh water is scarce. Used by placing it in the neck of a bottle, it provides a capacity of up to one litre – even with heavy contamination levels. [5]

New uses for Nanotechnology are spreading further every day and amongst its many opportunities, water treatment and cleaning could be one – which could make a real difference to the lives of millions of people.

[1] http://www.nanotech-now.com/basics.htm

[2] http://www.nanowerk.com/spotlight/spotid=4662.php

[3] http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncea/cfm/recordisplay.cfm?deid=230972

[4] http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/05/110531201217.htm

[5] http://io9.com/5611927/nanotech-tea-bag-creates-safe-drinking-water-instantly-for-less-than-a-penny

[x] http://midomo.co.uk/pages/main/faq

While these statistics mainly relate to people in the developing world, there have also been cases in the developed world where hundreds of people have lacked access to safe drinking water for days. One well-known event was Post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans in 2005. With thousands of people’s homes having been destroyed, the Louisiana Superdome was turned into a camp, hosting over 26,000 people. These people had no access to any source of safe drinking water as the risk of contamination was high due to recent floods. What most people are not aware of is that it took five days for the people in the SuperDome to get fresh drinking water delivered. More recently, all drinking water in downtown Copenhagen became contaminated, which left residents rushing to their local supermarkets to stock up on bottled water. Some supermarkets owners reported that the equivalent of 3 lorries full of water bottles were bought in one afternoon.

One tool, which can aid in tackling the problem of access to safe drinking water, comes in the form of purification bottles and straws. The Vestergaard-Frandsen “LifeStraw” provides the much needed disease control and clean water solution to communities living in areas that are prone to having contaminated water that is unsuitable for drinking.

In very basic terms, the LifeStraw, is a straw that allows individuals to place the filter end of the straw in any water source and suck up water through it. The first filter is a mesh of 100 micrometer spaces, followed by a second mesh of 15 micrometer spaces. In order to put the sizes into perspective, one micrometer is equivalent to 1/1,000,000 of a metre, or put in another way, smaller than the width of a human hair. The water then passes through a chamber of iodine-coated beads where it subsequently travels through a chamber which contains active carbon.

The LifeStraw can filter up to 1600 litres [3] and filters at least 99.9999% of all bacteria, 99.99% of all viruses and 99.9% of all parasites, as well as working in turbid water. The LifeStraw protects, amongst others, against waterborne diseases such as typhoid, cholera, E. coli, salmonella, dysentery and diarrhoea.

Vestergaard-Frandsen recently produced the “LifeStraw Family” purifier, which can filter up to 18,000 litres of water. This amount is estimated to be enough to supply a family of five with clean drinking water for three years, thus removing the need for early replacement of the product. The “LifeStraw Family” purification system requires no electrical power batteries, running water or piped-in water supply.

A relatively small amount of “LifeStraw Family” systems would be needed in order to provide clean drinking water to people whose safe water supplies have recently been contaminated by natural disasters, such as flooding or leaking septic tanks. The “LifeStraw”, therefore, provides people in the developed world with a temporary access to safe drinking water and further eliminates the need to buy bottled water in bulk, and as a result lowers individuals’ carbon footprint. In addition, the raw materials used for manufacturing the “LifeStraw” products are US Food and Drug Administration compliant [4].

In January, 2010, Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7 earthquake and subsequently “Innovative Water Technologies” launched a portable solar powered water purification system. While this water purification system is able to generate 5,000 gallons of clean water a day at a price of $0,0013/gallon [5], the “LifeStraw”, unlike the portable solar powered water purification system, “does not need a source of electricity, as it relies on suction power by the user, and as such is more simple to use and to distribute to individuals or households. In addition, the “Innovative Water Technologies’” portable solar powered water purifier may need regular maintenance and have parts replaced, neither of which are needed with the “LifeStraw” products. Finally, the “LifeStraw” has an indicator which shows how much remaining filtration capacity it has and once this threshold has been reached, the product will automatically block any possibility of sucking up water.

One problem yet to be solved is how to dispose of the “LifeStraw”. The outer shell of the straw is made of “high impact polyesterene”, a commonly used thermoplastic that can be recycled. However, polyesterene is not biodegradable and is often found in the form of cups and plastic bags, lying on the streets in developed and developing countries alike. As the individual small LifeStraws currently only have a life-span of about a year, this is a serious short-coming of the product that Vestergaard-Frandsen must overcome. The straw does not have individual components that can be replaced, but a whole new straw must be provided to the user. The technology that Vestergaard-Frandsen provide should not deem the product to have failed, but there is obviously room for improvement. The straw needs to be made biodegradable or the company must ensure that the product can be returned to the manufacture at the end of its life-time to be replaced with a new one. Finally, a better solution would be to generate a market that allows vendors to sell replacement components, while ensuring that the old components are properly disposed off.

The LifeStraw has the potential to gives millions of people access to safe drinking water in developing countries and dramatically decrease the number of people that die from water-borne diseases. More consideration, however, must be given to proper disposal of the product at the end of its life-time, in order to avoid mass dumping of polyesterene bottles.

[1]http://www.gizmag.com/go/4418/

[2]http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/8109/report/F

[3]http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw/lifestraw/longevity-and-efficacy

[4]http://www.vestergaard-frandsen.com/lifestraw/lifestraw-family/features

[5]http://www.innovativeh2o.com/_assets/_pdf/IWT_Healthymagination_Press-Release_FINAL-3.pdf

Unfortunately, it’s not quite that simple. Yes, water does move round in a cycle, and it’s not a case of “when it’s gone, it’s gone” like with oil reserves. But, the water cycle involves more than just evaporation into the atmosphere, where it only remains for about 9 days on average [4], and then precipitation back to the Earth’s surface. Water is stored in various types of reservoir, such as the oceans, rivers, glaciers, soil moisture and groundwater, and only 2.5% of the water on Earth is freshwater. Although we’ve got plenty of seawater and it can be put through a desalinisation process to remove salt and turn it into a freshwater supply, this uses a lot of energy so is too expensive to use in many parts of the world. Of the small amount of freshwater that we have got, almost 70% is locked up in glaciers and ice caps. This means that only around 1% of the water on the planet is usable by humans [6]. Of this, 99% is groundwater, stored below the Earth’s surface, and only a tiny amount is stored in rivers and lakes. Rivers are where most of the water we use comes from [6].

Although whatever water is used will be returned to the environment, it won’t be immediately available again. It will have to go back through the water cycle and be returned to one of the reservoirs that we can access before it can be used again. Some groundwater supplies are accessible, but they are rapidly becoming depleted because water is being extracted from them faster than it can be replaced by the natural cycle [7, 1]. Water supplies from other types of reservoir are also being lost – as an example, Lake Chad in Africa has been declared an ecological catastrophe because so much water was extracted for use by the local population that the lake shrank by 90% between 1963 and 2001 [5]. On average across the world, 630 cubic metres of water per person are taken from water sources each year for human use [3]. Most of this is used for irrigation in agriculture [8] so it follows that the amount of water withdrawn varies hugely between countries depending on how much crop irrigation is needed.

There is also a big difference in availability of water supplies between different regions of the world. In drier climates, the most obvious problem is the lack of access to water sources, and that can be even more difficult if there are economic problems in a country. In wetter areas, there might be enough water but it can get polluted by waste disposal and chemicals used in agriculture and industry, so that the water needs extra treatment to make it usable. Pollution can occur all over the world in various ways, and has knock-on effects for the health of humans and other species, especially if there’s no water treatment system set up.

In summary, although we have plenty of water on Earth, very little is safe freshwater and it is being removed from the environment more quickly than it can be replaced. Wastage of water, even in individual households, contributes to this. Reduce your water consumption easily with a shower timer to limit your time in the shower. Once the water has gone down the plug, it’s going to take time before it can be used again, and in that time more and more water will need to be extracted. Even in the UK we see the effects of this – hosepipe bans in the summer come about because there’s not enough rain falling to replenish the water reservoirs quickly enough [2]. As the global population grows, so will this problem of “overextraction”. So, are there any solutions? Well, there’s desalinisation of seawater, but as already mentioned that uses a lot of energy and is expensive. So it’s not good for the environment either, and many countries are trying to cut their emissions. Alternatively, maybe water could be moved from places with extra water supplies to areas with water shortages. This requires expensive transport systems and there could be political and organisational difficulties if water has to be brought in from other nations. Also, it would be very difficult to stop some of the water evaporating while it’s being stored or transported. Or, water can be properly treated and managed, and efforts can be made by everyone to protect and reuse what is available. Essentially, we’ve got it – we just need to look after it.

References

[1] American Geophysical Union, 2010. http://www.agu.org/news/press/pr_archives/2010/2010-30.shtml

[2] BBC, 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/manchester/hi/people_and_places/newsid_8797000/8797287.stm

[3] Food and Agriculture Organization, 2005. www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/maps/index.stm

[4] Physicalgeography.net, 2011. http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/8b.html

[5] Underwatertimes.com, 2009. http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=10205417863

[6] United States Geological Survey, 2011a. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthwherewater.html

[7] United States Geological Survey, 2011b. http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/gwdepletion.html

[8] Waterencyclopedia.com, 2009. http://www.underwatertimes.com/news.php?article_id=10205417863

]]> http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/why-do-we-need-to-save-water/feed/ 0 http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/drying-out-your-carbon-footprint-how-does-water-usage-contribute/ http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/drying-out-your-carbon-footprint-how-does-water-usage-contribute/#comments Wed, 29 Jun 2011 10:12:45 +0000 http://www.energysavingwarehouse.co.uk/learning-portal/?p=288 Continue reading →]]> When you consider saving water, is the first thing you think about your carbon footprint? Very often, the link between water and carbon is little appreciated and often overlooked. However, carbon is integral to the production, treatment and delivery of water to our homes, as well as the use of water within our homes and the energy used to heat it. Consequently there is a large link between carbon and water, so the more water you save, the greater the reduction in your carbon footprint. So where is it used and what does it cost?

• Nearly 1% of the UK’s annual greenhouse gas emissions are a result of the energy needed to treat and pump mains water to our homes, and to collect and treat waste water from the sewage network [1].
• The heating of water in our homes is responsible for a further 5% of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
• The heating of water for use in the taps and showers makes up over 25% of the average household’s heating bills – so around £200 a year. This could be even more if you use an electric immersion heater.
• Hot water use is estimated by the Energy Saving Trust to be responsible for over a fifth of a home’s carbon footprint.
• The reduction of hot water use in every UK home by 5% would save the equivalent CO₂ of taking 530,000 cars off the roads – a total of 1.5 million tonnes of CO₂ per year.
• Around 35% of homes in England and Wales are on a water meter, therefore reducing your water consumption will directly save you money.

So reducing your water usage saves you money and carbon, but there are other reasons to save water. The UK is estimated to have less water available per person than most other European countries. Furthermore, London is drier than Istanbul and the South East has less water available per person than places such as Sudan and Syria. It’s not just the South of England though, water is scarce in parts of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland too as a result of the lowest rainfall records for a decade [2]. Considering that it is estimated that each person in the UK uses around 150 litres of water a day, there is a considerable scope for reducing consumption. This figure takes into account the water used for cooking, cleaning, washing and flushing, and it has been rising by 1% each year since 1930. So what are some simple steps to make sure it reduces in 2011?

• Fix your taps – A dripping tap will waste at least 5,500 litres of water a year (enough to fill a paddling pool every week for a summer). Fixing it could save you over £18 a year [3].
• Turn off your tap when brushing your teeth – Running the tap wastes over 6 litres per minute. If all adults in England and Wales remembered this, 180 mega litres of water a day could be saved.
• Use a cistern displacement device – about a quarter of all clean, drinkable water in our homes is used to flush the loos. Call your water company and ask for a hippo bag or similar for free. Or if you’re feeling particularly flush, consider buying a water efficient toilet or one with a dual flush.

[1] http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk/Water/Water-and-energy

[2] http://www.waterwise.org.uk/reducing_water_wastage_in_the_uk/the_facts/the_facts_about_saving_water.html

[3] http://www.waterwise.org.uk/reducing_water_wastage_in_the_uk/house_and_garden/quick_tips.html

Water is becoming scarcer around the world. Hot summers, limited winter rainfall, dried-up rivers and hosepipe bans. It doesn’t take much for water to become an expensive commodity. Add to that the energy required to pump water around the country and already millions of tonnes of carbon dioxide are being released for a product which is considered ‘pure’.

Water is an expensive resource. Not only are you paying for it to be chemically treated and brought to your business, you are also paying for sewage costs to take it away again. This article will help you identify areas where you can reduce your water usage and ultimately your water bills. By installing water saving technology at work and advertising this to your customers, you will gain a good green and socially responsible reputation.

Technology that can help you save water

There is plenty of affordable technology on the market which can help you to reduce your company’s water use. This article will look at the different technologies available for each area that uses water.

• Urinals – urinals are often programmed to flush 24 hours a day at regular intervals, even when nobody has used them. It can be beneficial to install presence detectors to flush when someone is using the urinal. A saving of over £3,800/year in water and sewerage costs can be achieved by installing passive infrared (PIR) sensors at a cost of about £350 and with a payback period of 5 weeks (Envirowise, 2010). You can also get waterless urinals which don’t require water at all. Urinals would just require a special valve fitted so that urine can pass through but smells can’t travel back up!
• Flush toilets – if you can afford to do so, it is worth replacing old six (or more) litre cisterns for newer water efficient models. If this is not financially possible, you can invest in Hippo bags which take up room in the cistern, so that less water can fill it after each flush. An Interflush can be installed so that letting go of the flush will stop the flush.
• Taps – consider installing short burst push taps so that water is not left running. Spray taps also use less water by applying pressure to smaller amounts of water. Spray taps can reduce water use by 60 – 70% compared with conventional taps (Envirowise, 2010). Aerated taps and flow regulators also minimise water use.
• Leaks – make sure that leaks are found and stopped. A 5mm drip from a single tap can cost more than £900/year in water and wastewater treatment costs (Envirowise, 2010).
• If your business uses significant amounts of water in processing, you can reduce water usage by creating a closed system. This means that water is recycled and water bills are significantly lower.
• Does your business have gardens that need watering? A garden sprinkler uses just over 1000 litres an hour (Easy Eco Auditing, McCarthy, 2008). Therefore, it is worth considering installing water butts around the site to collect rainwater for watering plants.
• Rain harvesting – this can substitute more than 50% of your current mains water usage (Good Green Guide for Small Businesses, Impetus Consulting, 2008). It is worth considering rain harvesting to supply water for flushing toilets, especially if you have plenty of roof space. Average rainfall on a UK roof is 35,000 litres a year (Easy Eco Auditing, McCarthy, 2008) which is a considerable amount of water to save on your water bill.

Further help

The Enhanced Capital Allowance (ECA) scheme gives a 100 per cent first-year allowance for investments in certain water efficient plant and machinery (www.eca-water.gov.uk). See what water efficient technologies are eligible here.

UK Rainwater Harvesting Association offers advice on rainwater harvesting (www.ukrha.org).

Waterwise (www.waterwise.org.uk) are the leading authority on water efficiency in the UK.

Envirowise is a government initiative that offers free, independent support to your organisation helping you to become more resource efficient and save money. This link will take you to their water saving section: http://www.envirowise.gov.uk/uk/Topics-and-Issues/Water/Why-and-how-to-reduce-your-water-use.html

The Federation House Commitment (FHC) aims to help reduce overall water usage across the Food and Drink industry by 20% by the year 2020 (www.fhc2020.co.uk).

Environment Agency has advice for saving water in business and industry (www.environment-agency.gov.uk/business/topics/water/38947.aspx

Who should use CDDs?

Generally, cistern devices are recommended for use in older toilets which have a greater maximum flush. Toilets installed before 1993 normally have a flush of 9 litres or more in volume, and those installed from 1993-2001 normally have a flush of 7.5 litres in volume. Cisterns installed post-2001 have a maximum of 6 litres therefore CDDs are not recommended, however only around 5 million toilets in the UK are these type. Consequently, there is the opportunity for 40 million toilets to fit a CDD, reduce their carbon footprint and their water bill.

Which CDD is suitable for me?

Hippo the Water Saver

The Hippo bag opens up into a box which sits beneath the cistern float and fills with water. Whenthe toilet is flushed water is saved in the bag, although it does have a small hole at the base to prevent the water becoming stagnant. Approximately 3 litres of water is saved using the Hippo which could provide a saving on your water bill of around £20 a year [2]. Even if your water company does not provide the Hippo for free, you can expect a pay back on your initial investment within 8-12 weeks. Unfortunately, Hippos may only be used for tanks of 9 litres or more.

Freddie the Frog

Freddie the Frog contains special crystals that absorb water and one placed in the toilet cistern swells over a 5-6 hour period to displace 1 litre of water per flush. As an alternative to the Hippo, the Freddie the Frog can be used in toilets with lower tank volumes and has the advantage of being bio-degradable and recyclable [3]. Unfortunately, Freddie the Frogs are only provided free of charge to Anglian Water customers however they are available as “Save-a-Flush” other water companies

Toilet Tank Bank

The Toilet Tank Bank is a simple displacement device which consists of a hot-water shaped bag to be filled with water. When placed inside your cistern it should save up to 2 litres per flush or 20% of the water originally used when flushing [1]. Due to the amount of water it saves, the Toilet Tank Bank is only suitable for cisterns with a large volume.

CDDs from Water Companies [4]

Although there is a brief overview of CDDs provisions in each area the best way to find out what is available to you is to contact your local water supplier or council. CDDs are a simple cost efficient way to decrease your water bill and the production of carbon dioxide by your house and consequently the UK.

[1] www.dothegreenthing.com (2007)

[2] www.hippo-the-water-saver.co.uk (2010)

[3] www.anglianwater.co.uk (2010)

[4] www.reducereuserecycle.co.uk (2010)

There are essentially three main benefits of saving water:

1. You will save energy. It is likely that most of us do not think about the carbon emissions associated with water supply, disposal and heating; however, this actually accounts for 5% of the UK’s carbon emissions.
2. You will save money as you will not be using as much water or energy to treat or supply it.
3. You will help address climate change and make the world more sustainable. Wasting water means more energy consumption and therefore more carbon dioxide emissions.

Saving water resources and becoming more water efficient can be achieved through the implementation of water- saving technologies and simple changes in everyday activities.

[1] http://www.watersavingweek.org.uk/

1. Water free urinals. These are cheaper to install than regular flush units, as you do not need flush valves and the associated piping, and can save you up to 40,000 gallons of water per unit each year. Money is also saved on sewer, maintenance and repair costs and the waterless urinals are odour free! [2].
2. Dual-flush toilets. When you are ready for a new toilet buy a dual-flush as they can save up to 68% more water than conventional low flush toilets. Lifting the handle up initiates reduced flush for liquid waste; and pushing the handle down initiates full flush eliminating solid waste. These dual flush toilets also have larger trapways that do not clog as often as a conventional toilet. Furthermore, the antimicrobial coating on the handle protects users against germs [3]. Alternatively, there are cistern displacement devices which are easy to install into toilets that also save money with every flush.
3. Water efficient shower heads. By installing a WaterSense shower head, the average household could save more than 2,300 gallons of water per year and also save money on energy bills (up to 300 kilowatt hours of electricity per year).
4. Flow Restrictors. Install flow-restrictors on all taps so that the stream of water is never too heavy. This can reduce a sink’s water flow by 50%. For example, with a dual flow tap, opening the tap a little gives a strong but water saving spray for hand washing or cleaning teeth and opening the tap further bypasses the spray mode to fill the basin quickly [4]. There are also solenoid (motion) sensors/infra red controls on taps which ensure they stop running when not in use.
5. Water Switch. Install a Water Switch so you can easily control the water supply in your home. In the event of an emergency (leaking water) the water supply can be easily shut down to limit any water damage. In addition, when you leave home you can switch off the water to protect your home from burst pipes. A water switch not only saves you the potentially enormous expense of repairing damage caused by leaks, it saves you trying to find the stopcock during an emergency which is often hidden in very inaccessible places. Stopcocks are also difficult to operate as they seize up. The water switch is connected to the water supply and is powered by water and therefore does not need electricity or batteries [5].
6. Drip irrigation system. For the garden, use a drip irrigation system rather than conventional sprinklers. These use between 20 and 50% less water and they are much more efficient as no water is lost to wind, evaporation or run-off.

Hire a specialist water consultant who will use state of the art equipment to help you save water and money in your home or business. They can detect and fix leaks and suggest a range of products that would save you money off your water bills.

[1] www.epa.gov/watersense

[2] www.positive-energy.com/water/water_saving.html

[3] www.sustainablesupply.com/

[4] www.tapmagic.co.uk/

[5] www.surestop.co.uk/