by Gordon Hoey

Created on: January 23, 2010   Last Updated: February 04, 2010

With the worst drought in 132 years to hit the Western Cape of South Africa showing no signs of abating, water saving tips becomes a necessity rather than a whim. Suddenly the very real threat of the water running out is upon us and action, rather than rhetoric is needed.

Below is a list of easy ways to save water.

Locate your water meter; switch of everything in the house and check the meter to see if it is still registering usage. If it is, check all taps for drips, all toilet cisterns for sticking valves and any visible signs of leakage, like damp patches. If there are no signs of leakage but still the meter is showing usage, call you plumber as you may have a small leak in a pipe.

Capture rain water for irrigation; install a tank or two to capture any rainfall. Use the house guttering to divert water into a tank or tanks. Depending on house size and your intended use of the water, i.e. garden irrigation only, swimming pool top up, toilet flushing or even to go for showering, washing machine usage and the likes, specialist help from plumbers may be necessary. However, a simple addition to your current guttering can result in a pipe to your pool which will top the pool every time it rains. You will be amazed how much water you can capture in tanks and for how long you can use it, if used wisely.

Shower instead of taking a bath; this of course makes sense at any time but even more so when water is scarce. Place a bucket or plastic foot bath in the shower and capture any surplus water in it. It is ideal for garden irrigation. Turn off the shower between shampoo and soaping sessions and rinse less than you did before. Of course, you can also follow the old advice and bath (e) with a friend Good for helping relationships as well!

When dish-washing; place a smaller basin in your sink unit and wash the dishes in that, this tip saves more than you think. When hand washing; use the water a couple of times. Put the plug in, leave the water in for two hand washing sessions, more if you are just rinsing.

Use grey water for garden irrigation; most houses have an external plastic drain pipe, coming from the shower or bath and feeding into the main drainage system. It is relatively easy to divert this water to a small garden irrigation system, via a tank and simple filter system. This is another great way of saving on clean water.

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