The sensation of stepping into a hot shower on a cold morning or after a tiring day of work and play is awesome. Having a loooong shower is very refreshing, but also uses up a lot of water. Here are some tips to conserve water when you have that hot shower.
1. Save the water you waste while waiting for the right temperature: depending on your water heater, it takes a few seconds or minutes to get water at the right temperature. During this time precious water is getting wasted. Catch this in a bucket or a mug. You can use this for a wide range of things either in the bathroom (brushing teeth, filling the flush, washing your face) or anywhere else in your house (watering plants, soaking or washing clothes, mopping floors, cleaning a car, etc,). This can be quite a sizeable amount of water saved.
2. Slow or stop the shower when you soap yourself. While you lather soap and scrub yourself clean, most of the water is just running away. Slow down the shower or stop it for these few minutes. You can also use water collected from the 1st tip to lather your soap or body wash.
3. Time your shower. This is especially useful in the mornings when you need to get to work or school in time. It helps you waste less time and also helps save water. This may not be possible on the days when all you want is a long hot shower, but its worth a try.
4. Use water saving showerheads. There are shower heads that have a water saving design and hence save water without compromising on the quality of your shower time. They are usually a one time investment and hence will pay for themselves by reducing your water bills.
5. Slow down the water speed. While we all love that feeling of a high speed shower, slowing it down a wee bit can help save a few liters. Try it.
6. Avoid water dripping. A shower tap thatbis not closed fully or a faulty tap/showerhead will result in water dripping even after you think your bath is over. This results in water slowly getting wasted. Make sure your shower tap is fully closed and not leaking.
7. Shower together. Couples could enjoy the intimacy and pleasure of showering together! However they could end up being extra long!! So try it and there could be more happening than saving water!
8. Catch that water. Keeping a bucket or a mug by the side will catch a couple of liters of water that gets wasted due to the shower jet being wide. You could always use this for other purposes.
So that’s just a few practical tips. Saving water not only cuts down your water bills, but also helps conserve water and is good for the environment.
Share your other water saving tips in the shower.
Remember that a bucket bath uses much lesser amount of water and you can use this option once in a while!