Carbon and water savings possible by conserving water
We are so used to clean, running water at the simple turn of a tap that the supply seems limitless, even though it clearly isn't, and we often don't notice when we waste it. We each use an average of 150 litres of water a day in the UK, 3 times the amount of water a family of four in Africa might use, and 50% more than we did 25 years ago. Taps can run at a rate of between 6 and 10 litres of water a minute or more,
so we could save a huge amount of water, over 20,000 litres a year, or more than 150 bathfuls, just by remembering to turn the tap off when brushing our teeth, shaving or washing up. We'd soon remember what a precious resource water is if we had to fetch it ourselves. The average woman in Africa walks 4 miles for her family's daily supply, carrying 20 litres or more.
In order to calculate the average annual water and carbon savings achievable through water conservation, we have taken an average of various water saving measures in the home.
Carbon saved by taking shorter showers = 0.63 kg CO2 per shower or
0.63 x 7 x 52 = 229.32 kg CO2 per year. Please see here
for more details and information.
Carbon saved by sharing a bath (or reusing your bath water) = 1.26 kg CO2 per bath or
1.26 x 52 = 65.52 kg CO2 per year. Please see here for more details and information.
Carbon saved by installing low flow taps and showerheads = 112.7 kg CO2 per year
Please see here for more details and information.
Average carbon saved per year by taking water saving measures = (229.32 + 65.52 + 112.7)/3
= 135.85 kg CO2 per year
Other related water saving actions you can take:
Get a hippo for your loo
Turn taps off collect rainwater
Don't overfill your kettle
Don't run a pre-wash cycle on your washing machine
Footnotes
