Be waterwise
By Charlotte Owen
WildCall Officer
With temperatures rising and a heatwave moving across the UK, demand for water is soaring. Here in Sussex we live in a water stressed region with huge demands on our limited water supply, so it’s vital that we all try and save water whenever possible.
Most of our drinking water (70%) comes from natural underground reservoirs, called aquifers, which can take decades or even centuries to refill once they’ve been drained. The rest is pumped from our rivers (23%) or drawn from reservoirs (7%) like Arlington. With more than a million of us living here, our water supply is always overstretched and the more we use, the less there is for wildlife.
We each use around 160 litres of water every day, which might be more than you’d guess. A single bath uses 80 litres, a shower 30 litres and a sprinkler uses 1,000 litres an hour. There are lots of simple ways to be more water efficient and they add up to make a big difference - if we each used one litre less a day, we’d save a massive four million litres in a year.
At home:
- Save a flush – around 30% of water delivered to the home is literally flushed away. Install a free save-a-flush bag to save a litre each time: www.southernwater.co.uk/save-a-flush-form
- Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth to save 8,000 litres per year
- Chill a jug of tap water in the fridge rather than running the tap until it’s cold
- Wash vegetables in a bowl – a running kitchen tap wastes nine litres per minute
- Re-use your washing up water and other ‘grey’ water to give the garden a drink
- Wait until you have a full load before using the washing machine or dishwasher – cut down by one wash a week and you’ll save 5,000 litres per year
- Use a bucket and sponge to wash the car rather than a hose
In the garden:
- Let your grass grow longer to capture the morning dew
- Install a water butt on as many down-pipes as possible
- Apply mulch around plant roots to help hold water in the soil where it’s most needed
- Start your own compost heap for a ready supply of mulch
- Water your garden in the evening rather than during the heat of the day - this will reduce water lost to evaporation and the plants will have all night to soak it up
Comments
Running out in a Drought
I went for a run, yesterday morning,
To get out early, as the new day was dawning,
To try and escape, the stifling heat,
That scorches the earth, beneath my feet,
I run through a field, where tree cover stops,
With views of early, harvested crops,
The rustle of straw, a decadent sound,
As Jigsaw cracks, appear on the ground,
The earth is parched, there is no doubt,
That Global warming, has caused this drought,
I continue my run, with a worrying thought,
What would it be like, if water ran short,
It’d be a disaster, it wouldn’t be good,
Then my mood is lifted, as I run through a wood,
A circular route, it’s a beautiful trail,
Proving nature succeeds, as water companies fail,
A hosepipe ban, has now just begun,
We’re paying the price, in more ways than one,
Could we all suffer, and feel the remorse,
For wasting so much, of this natural resource,
We took it for granted, we just didn’t care,
We thought that our water, would always be there,
I continue my run, then all I can see,
Are dried up ditches, where rivers should be,
The levels are low, my heart starts to sink,
Too difficult now, for livestock to drink,
Cattle are grazing, on dry golden land,
That could be mistaken, for acres of sand,
Quenching my thirst, with timely hydration,
I carry on running, with some elevation,
Adrenalin flowing, I pick up the pace,
Whilst thinking about, the issues we face,
As a kid I remember, the simplest of things,
Drinking fresh water, from natural springs,
I then realise, we’ve all played our part,
We bought bottled water, right from the start,
Plastic bottle pollution, for years to stay,
Creating the waste, that we see today,
Why did it change, where was the gap,
To stop drinking water, just out of a tap,
We need to change, as temperatures rise,
Or it will all disappear, before our eyes,
We can do more, by making some tweaks,
If water companies get better, at stopping the leaks,
We can’t just blame it, on annual drought,
We need to do better, to sort this mess out.
I finish my run, in just over an hour,
And decide to spend less, time in the shower,
We can all play our part, we just need to choose,
For if we do nothing, our future we lose,
Will we ask the question, where did it all go,
When the world runs out, of clean H2O.
12 Aug 2022 06:15:00