Help with your water usage

If you've recently had a new addition to the family, you'll likely be using more water to wash the baby and its clothing.

It's always great having your children back home from university. However, it could also be a reason for why your water use has gone up. Take a moment to think about the amount of extra showers, baths and clothes washing they've brought back home with them!

The average water used per person per day is 143 litres in England. For every additional person staying in your home, that's a lot of extra water being used each day!

The COVID-19 pandemic has meant we have all been spending more time at home than usual. During the lockdowns we have noticed a 12% increase in household water usage, compared to before the pandemic started.

Perhaps you've recently started a new job that allows you to work from home more? Or perhaps you are having to spend more time at home due to illness or injury? Any of these life changes will likely increase the amount of water you use during the day.

The average showerhead uses 12 litres of water per minute, with power showers using around 15 litres. Given the average shower taken is around 10 minutes long, that's up to 150 litres of water every time you use the shower! Try to keep your shower duration to around 4 minutes - if every home in the UK took one minute off their shower every day it would save £215 million on our collective energy bills every year.

Surveys show a typical load of washing is usually much less than the maximum capacity of the model, so stuff in a few extra shirts to make the most of your loads.

A dishwasher on an eco setting can be more efficient than washing dishes by hand, if the dishwasher is completely full. However, recent research has found that only half of people say they use the eco setting.

Washer/dryers typically use a lot more water than standard washing machines. When buying a washing machine, check the label or specifications for water use, the best models will typically use less than 7.5 litres per kg. 

Sprinklers use as much water in one hour as a family of four uses in two days! If you have to use a sprinkler or hose pipe, try to use it in the early morning/late afternoon as this is when evaporation rates are at their lowest. Attaching a trigger nozzle on your hosepipe will halve the amount of water used and help direct the flow to the root of your plants.

Depending on the size of your water feature, whether it is a pond, paddling pool or swimming pool, you will likely need to use a significant amount of water to fill it. Keep this in mind if you notice your bill has increased.

On average, one bag of cement requires 22 litres of water for mixing. Pressure washing your patio or driveway also uses a huge amount of water. 

Spotted a dripping tap? This could be wasting around 5,500 litres of water a year and could just need the washer replacing. 

Between 5% and 8% of toilets are leaking and each one can waste between 215 and 400 litres of clean drinking water on average every day. Fixing a leaky loo could save you as much as £300 per year. Watch our short video below to find out how you can check if you have a leaky loo.

If you think you have a leak, you need to locate your stop tap and check to see if it shuts off the water. It's important to regularly check your stop tap is working and if not, please call a plumber. Watch our short video below to find out how you can locate your stop tap and check it is working.