Leaky TapThe first step is to conserving water is to identify where we use water in the home. We can then decide on the best way to reduce the amount of water we use, either by changin gour behaviour to eliminate wasteful household tasks and habits, or by improving the efficiency of our water using fixtures and devices. This is not as hard as you may think. The prime area to target is the bathroom, where nearly 65 percent of all indoor water use occurs.

By following the three rules of water conservation – reduce, repair and retrofit – a typical household can reduce water consumption by 40 percent or more, with or no effect on lifestyle.

Reduce: We waste a lot of water while going about our daily activities. We leave taps running while we brush our teeth. We run our dishwashers and laundry machines without full loads. In fact, almost everywhere we use water there is room for water conservation by reducing our consumption.

Repair: You may not realise but leaks can be costly. A tap leaking only one drop per second wastes about 10,000 litres of water per year. Leaks like this are easy to find and to fix, at very little cost.

Retrofit: By adapting or replacing an older water-using fixture or appliance with one of the many water-efficient devices now on the market - we are retrofitting. While these solutions cost more, they also save the most water and money. Retrofitting offers considerable water saving potential in the home and business. See At Home, Outdoors and At Your Workplace for more examples.

Adapted from Pollution Probe's Drinking Water Primer

Reduce

There are a number of ways we can easily reduce our consumption of water, some are more obvious like turning off the tap while we brush our teeth.  Others, like keeping a jug of water in the fridge instead of running water until it gets cold for a drink, may be less obvious, but also provide significant savings.  Check out the list below for things you can do around the home.

During the growing season water use can increase by as much as 50%, and unfortunately much of the water applied outside isn't effective due to over-watering and evaporation. Below are a number of great tips to save and reuse water for outdoor use.

Rain barrels

Almost all of the water saving tips provided in this section can be applied to the work place.  Some are even better suited, such as the grey water systems. 

If you are concerned about water efficiency in your workplace or industry, the best thing to do is follow the three R's; reduce, repair and retrofit.  Often the most water savings can be found by simply repairing leaks and retrofitting a system with efficient devices.