Water saving starts right from when you are planning your garden. Mike Peacock, water resources manager for Affinity Water states

“It’s important to choose plants that thrive in dry conditions, such as lavender, marigolds and cornflowers so look for the full sun symbol on the plant labels when buying new plants as this indicates their tolerance to dry conditions. When planting try to make the most of moisture by adding a layer of tree bark, gravel or compost to keep the sun off the soil; this will help retain the moisture in the soil.”

And for those of you who’s gardens are already planted and coming into bloom here are a few tips to make you all into super-efficient water saving gardeners

• Make sure your lawnmower is set to a higher setting (approx. 4cm) this will help develop thicker grass which will trap early morning dew and reduces evaporation.
•  Watering in the midday sun will mean more evaporation, try to water in the early morning or during the evening
• Move your hanging baskets and containers to shady areas of the garden where possible
• A few gel crystals mixed in with your compost are a great way of retaining water in pots and planters.
•  If your planting trees or other plants that have deep roots consider burying a short length of pipe alongside your plant; then if you water into the tube the water goes directly to the roots where the plant needs it most.
• Water butts are a great way of storing unused rain water for a later date and if you are on a water meter, they will save you money.

For more on our great range of drought resistant plants that will help you achieve the look you want, without spending all day and night in the garden watering check out our outdoors section.

http://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/section/outdoors

A few tips to save you water while working in the Garden

As Simon Evans from Thames Water explains, toilet roll takes seconds to disintegrate if you put it in some water, hence it does not cause any harm to the sewers. He highlights that wet wipes do not break down quickly enough even if the packaging says that they are ‘biodegradable’ or ‘flushable’, hence they should never be put down drains. We don’t want to scare you, but ignoring this advice can come at a high cost! Blockages are more likely in suburban areas where pipes are narrowest – anything from 6 to 12inches in diameter – in urban areas all of the pipes that come from our homes to the main sewer pipes are of similar diameter, so you should not feel safe.

As Simon Evans informs us, blockages can result in sewage backing up on to streets, into gardens, into parks. But it can get worst. There are around 1,000 cases a year where sewage is backing up into people’s homes.

One potential solution to the problem is Freshu, an antibacterial foaming toilet tissue gel being recommended by some of the water companies and sold by SaveWaterSaveMoney.co.uk

http://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/products/view/id/120/item/freshu-antibacterial-foaming-toilet-tissue-gel-50ml

This revolutionary product can be used to moisten the final sheets of toilet paper, giving you the same cleansing power as a wet wipe but with no awful and costly consequences.

Rob Smith’s from Thames Water, comments that thousands of wipes end up every day in sewage works where they are plucked out by special forked prongs and taken to landfill. According to Rob, if people knew what percentage of water bills went on blockages and disposing of these wipes when they get to sewage treatment works customers would make this small effort to bin the wipes and not flush them.

Water saving is 'Gaming' the answer?

In areas of the world as different as Colombia and India groups of school children and villagers are gathering for ‘Games Nights’. Simulating real-life decision making on how to use water effectively for their villages as a whole. These are not decisions that can be made in isolation as there is a finite amount of fresh water to go around. These games are being promoted to improve collective water management by a collection of academic bodies including the Foundation for Ecological Security in India, Universidad de los Andes in Colombia and Arizona State University.

For example in India groups of five men and five women from each village must choose what to grow throughout a year’s seasons with an eye toward their chosen crops’ water requirements. If growing strategies use too much groundwater, the game ends—similar to real life where groundwater tables are falling, and the cost of pumping irrigation water is rising.

Here in the UK Paula Owen consulting, someone we’ve mentioned here before, has been leading the way in this area with SE2 a sustainability ‘leadership led’ schools project to bring sustainability and water efficiency to the school children of the UK through ‘gamification’ the new buzz word in eco-efficiency.

Our opinion is this can only bring positive results. Whichever way you look at it water management and water efficiency is only going to become more important, not just here in the UK, but across the globe. Anything that can promote the sustainable use of this most precious of resources in a fun and entertaining way is definitely a positive sign for the future.

How much water does it take to make…

• To make one hamburger it takes 635 gallons of water
• One printed Sunday newspaper uses 80 gallons of water
• One slice of bread needs 10 gallons of water
• That morning cup of coffee requires 35 gallons of water to make
• One egg needs 400 gallons of water
• A pound of chicken needs 500 gallons of water to process
• A single potato? 100 gallons of water
• One orange requires 13 gallons of water
• That cotton shirt you’re wearing? 700 gallons of water
• A full set of tires for your Prius requires 2,072 gallons of water
• The dishwasher uses between 9-12 gallons of water each time you run it
• One barrel of crude oil needs 1,851 gallons of water to refine

At Save Water Save Money we always aim to offer tips on how to save water and affordable water efficient products to help our customers conserve water. However with most of our water efficient showerheads we advise that they are not suitable for electric showers. Why? There are two main reasons.

Firstly, electric showers have to heat water from the cold supply up to a comfortable shower temperature (about 40 degrees centigrade), which takes a lot of energy. Even at a rating of 7.5-10 kilowatts this means that electric showers can only handle a relatively low flow of water through them, from 3-9 litres per minute, with an average flow of 6 litres per minute. Since most water efficient showerheads and flow regulators are set to a flow rate of 7.5-8 litres per minute there are no savings to be made by fitting these to an electric shower.

Secondly, there have been concerns about possible damage to showers due to any flow restriction devices.

So, electric showers already fall into the “water efficient” range, which is great to know. However, at 7.5-10 kilowatts electric showers use electricity faster than any other electrical item in the home. One unit of electricity (one kilowatt hour) will power a 40 watt light bulb for 24 hours. It would only power a 10 kW electric shower for 6 minutes. So, even with an electric shower, saving water through shorter showers will also save money and electricity.

You can see our full range of electric showers starting at just £118.90 at

http://www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk/section/bathroom-shower-and-bath

To go Electric...?

Today Save Water Save Money has been supporting WaterAid to promote the plight of the 743million people around the world that still do not have access to clean water and sanitation. We are giving 10% of profits from today to support their work in the developing world along with The Gorilla Organization.

But in this article I wanted to talk to you about some of the less highlighted water crises around the world, it’s not just the global south that suffers from droughts and water shortages. Saving Water is becoming more crucial in areas of the world where we have previously taken this critical resource for granted.

The United States (one of the largest users of water, per capita, in the world) is being ravaged by drought, which has laid waste to much of the Corn Belt, driving up grain prices and causing sleepless nights for farmers. And the situation does not look like improving any time soon, on Thursday NOAA (The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) warned that the hot, dry conditions are unlikely to ease before the middle of this year. The cost of the drought is estimated at above $50bn, greater than the economic damage caused by hurricane Sandy¹.

In 2003, Australia began the worst drought on record, not only did this devastate farming but forced city’s like Melbourne into punishing restrictions on water usage. The drought officially ended on 27th April 2012. By this point the Federal Government had spent $4.5 Billion in drought assistance2. Not a small chunk of change

And the fault cannot all be placed at the door of climate change. One of the biggest problems facing the world in the 21st Century is our love of a juicy steak! As the world gets richer we’re all eating more meat and the planet is struggling to keep up with our growing demand for water. It’s not just farming, by some estimates producing a new set of tyres uses over 10,000 litres of water³.

And the moral of the story, water is going to become more valuable across the world. It’s a precious resource and should be treated as such.

So next time your brushing your teeth, make sure you don’t leave the tap running!

SOURCES

1)      http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/21/noaa-outlook-drought-worse-2013

2)      http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/minister-declares-end-of-drought-20120427-1xpgi.html

3)      http://thegoodhuman.com/2012/04/02/how-much-water-does-it-take

For World Water Day on the 22^nd of March we will be donating 10% of all our profits on the day to these charities.

World Water Day 2013 takes place on Friday 22nd March

WATERAID

A subject close to our hearts here at Save Water Save Money. WaterAid was set up following the UN’s International Drinking Water and Sanitation decade in the 1980’s. WaterAid works in partnership with local organisations across 27 countries building wells and developing clean water and sanitation services for poor and rural communities.

Safe water transforms lives. Not only does it prevent huge numbers of diseases such as cholera, typhoid and the spread of malaria but safe water close to home means women and children are able to spend less time collecting, or queuing, for water and more time generating an income for their family. This is the start of their journey out of poverty.

WaterAid has been recognised for its great work, being named as the UK charity of the year in the 2003 Charity Times Awards and in 2006 was crowned ‘Britain’s most Admired Charity’.

www.wateraid.org

THE GORILLA ORGANIZATION

The Gorilla Organization has been supporting the conservation of the world’s largest apes since 1989.Today they work in Cameroon, Gabon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and Rwanda, promoting education and conservation to help protect the world’s last remaining gorillas. They take a grass roots approach, realizing that any attempt at conservation must be weighed against the economic challenges of these developing countries. One of the biggest threats these Gorillas face is caused by encroachement of their natural environment, particularly their water supply. Interacting with humans has had some disastrous; effects a recent ebola outbreak killed 1000′s of these endangered animals in just a few months.

The Gorilla Organization has funded water cistern projects across central Africa these not only protect the Gorilla’s environment from encroachment but a recent visit to Gitaraga primary school on the edge of the Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, revealed another surprising result.

Traditionally, the primary school children spent the first hour of their school day collecting water from the national park – a dangerous and time-consuming experience. But since their cistern was built in March 2006, the time spent by pupils collecting water has reduced so considerably that the school has adopted a new timetable, allowing pupils to spend an extra hour and a half a day in lessons. This has had a huge impact on the pupils and the school, which has now been rated first in the district and 18th in the country, following an outstanding set of results during the last exam period.

According to one of the senior teachers at the school, 51 out of 71 pupils passed this year, compared to 41 who passed the year before the water cistern was installed.

This one Gorilla Organization funded system provides water for more than 1,500 people from the local communities. Here at Save Water Save Money we think projects like this are a great way to Save Water and Save Wildlife at the same time!

www.gorillas.org

We will be announcing other exciting events and competitions to raise funds for these great causes throughout the year. Keep an eye on this blog or start to follow us on Twitter @lesswater for news and updates.

With such good causes to support make your purchases on 22^nd March at www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk and help us change the world for the better.

Companies are installing meters as part of their plans to make sure there is enough water for customers now and in the future. Meters provide them with important information that helps them reduce leakage and manage supplies more effectively. Moreover, water efficiency benefits can be achieved as customers with a meter use an average of 10% less water. By being careful not to waste water, you can help to:

• protect the environment
• safeguard water and sewerage services for the future
• keep bills lower, for example by reducing the need to build expensive new reservoirs; and
• save money.

Compulsory Metering

The government wants water meters installed in most British homes by 2020. However, the situation is different in some parts of the country where water resources are more stressed. In those regions compulsory metering is already being introduced and will be completed much sooner. On the other hand, water metering is particularly unlikely in Scotland.

There are certain exceptions where you may be obliged to have a water meter installed. A water company has the right to choose to install a water meter at your property whether you’ve requested it or not, but it doesn’t have the right to charge you on a metered basis unless:

• Customers move house or where a property has been split to create several separate new dwellings with completely new occupiers.
• Customers are the new occupier of a property, and haven’t yet received an unmetered bill.
• Customers move house or where a property has been split to create several separate new dwellings with completely new occupiers.
• Customers have a power shower, extra-large bath, spa or Jacuzzi with a capacity of more than 230 litres.
• When a customer uses ‘automatic’, non hand-held watering device such as a lawn sprinkler (hand held hose pipes only count if they are perforated).
• Customers have a swimming pool at your property with a capacity greater than 10,000 litres that is automatically replenished.
• Customers use a reverse osmosis water softening unit.
• Customer live in a ‘water stressed’ area where the government has allowed compulsory metering as part of a plan to maintain secure water supplies.

Other proposals being suggested include targeting areas where water shortages are most severe, encouraging people to install a water meter voluntarily and capping bills for low income households to ensure they don’t end up paying more should compulsory metering be introduced.

If your on a water meter and want to reduce your water usage check out some the ‘Free Water Saving Packs‘ available from www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk.

You can reduce your wastewater’s impact on the environment by opting for eco-friendly detergents. Many eco cleaners come in an ultra-concentrated formula, which makes them equally good value as conventional cleaners but the big difference is that their natural ingredients are kinder to the environment and your family.

If you’re still not convinced about making the switch, here are more reasons to use eco-friendly household cleaners.

1. Water and energy savings

You can’t really blame us for putting this top of the list can you? The truth is soap suds don’t come naturally, it takes abrasive chemicals to make bubbles and so eco laundry and dishes need much less water to rinse them clean.

Eco laundry detergents are also formulated to work with cold water, which can significantly reduce your energy consumption.

2. No compromise on cleaning power or sumptuous smells

Not only do eco cleaning products use natural essential oils like lavender or rosemary, instead of synthetic fragrances, they don’t compromise on quality either. You still enjoy white and colour fast laundry, just without having to resort to the optical brighteners or harsh whiteners that can threaten our health as well as the environment.

3. Plant-based ingredients

Oils derived from petroleum aren’t used in eco cleaners; instead they contain plant-based oils such as coconut or soy oil.

4. Biodegradable

Because eco cleaning products use plant based ingredients they biodegrade quickly and don’t build up in lakes and streams or disrupt or even poison aquatic life in the way that unnatural substances can.

5. Safe for your family

Feel confident that you’re not exposing your family to harsh chemicals. Natural ingredients are kinder to skin; reduce irritations, allergies, respiratory problems or even more serious health problems.

We think you’ll agree that these are pretty compelling reasons to turn to environmentally friendly cleaning products.

We’ve teamed up with the leading names in eco cleaning and clean wastewater to offer a comprehensive selection of wastewater products. Why not take a look?

It’s easy to panic when you get a frozen pipe but the key to remaining calm is being prepared. Follow these steps to minimise damage and get everything back to normal as soon as possible.

1.      Check with your neighbours

If your water supply stops suddenly you should check whether this problem is isolated to your house by talking to your neighbours. If your neighbours don’t have water either there might be an incident such as a burst mains water pipe affecting water supplies in your area.

2. Close your stop tap

 Although pipes are damaged when they freeze, you’re only going to notice that they’ve burst when the water in the pipe thaws. So if you’ve got a frozen pipe you need to first isolate the area affected by closing your stop tap.

3.      Run the taps

To reduce the damage caused by water escaping through a burst pipe, you should drain the plumbing system by running your taps into sinks, basins and baths, once the frozen pipe begins to thaw.

4.      Back up and running

Once the pipes have thawed and you’re sure there aren’t any leaks from burst pipes you should stop running the taps and slowly open the stop tap. Then, once it’s under pressure, check the plumbing system for leaks.

Don’t turn on your water heating appliance until you’re satisfied all the pipe-work is thawed. If you spot a leak, you should isolate the affected pipe by closing the stop tap, then call a plumber.

Top tips to avoid making things worse

• Wait until the system has completely thawed before switching on water heating appliances, including boilers and immersion heaters. Applying sudden heat will put you at risk of a burst pipe. If you need some heat use sources that are connected to the plumbing or central heating such as gas, solid fuel or electric heaters.

•  Don’t use a naked flame to thaw pipes. You can use a hairdryer but the pipe may burst as it thaws and spray water. Start thawing a pipe at the end nearest the tap first.

Find an approved plumber on the Chartered Institute of Plumbing and Heating Engineering’s website or here.

To get ready for the winter take a look at our winter protection range including pipe lagging, tap guards and you can even order your sledge in time for the next round of snow.