10 simple ways to save water at home, from savvy showering to checking your loo for leaks

Do your bit to help protect our precious water reserves – and the environment – by following these simple everyday tips

With hot summers such as this year’s predicted to happen ever more frequently, the risk of a water shortfall in England and Wales is on the rise.

Climate change and population growth are creating a perfect storm that is putting freshwater reserves in England under huge pressure and taking its toll on the environment. In parts of England, recent dry periods have led to temporary water restrictions becoming more common.

Even though water companies face strict limits on how much they can take from the environment, the amount we’re using means that 15% of surface water sources – such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs – have unsustainable levels of abstraction, reports the Environment Agency. When it comes to underground sources (aquifers), the figure is 27%.

The water industry is investing billions to fix leaks, upgrade infrastructure and increase supply, but there is still more to do – and each of us can play our part. The new Let’s Save Water campaign encourages everyone to make small changes in our everyday lives that will reduce the amount of water we use.

Households consume the biggest proportion of the water supplied in England and Wales (59%), with every person using on average 136 litres a day. So what might seem like small individual actions can add up to a big impact.

Here are 10 simple tips for saving water that will help you protect this precious resource – and our environment into the future.

1 Take a four-minute shower
We’ve all heard that a shower uses less water than a bath – but only if you make it quick! Spending four minutes with the shower running is the sweet spot. This uses about 50 litres of water – quite a saving on 80 litres for a standard bath. Try a four-minute timer or playlist to keep yourself on track, or turn the water off when you’re lathering up to extend your time in the shower without ramping up your water use.

2 Turn off the tap while you brush
A running tap uses up to nine litres of water a minute. So if you leave the tap running while you brush your teeth, you waste thousands of litres a year. Remember to turn it off until it’s time to rinse.

3 Use your dishwasher (on eco-mode)
It might seem counterintuitive, but your dishwasher actually uses less water than washing up by hand. In fact, by ditching the rubber gloves, you could use almost 80% less water (under a litre of water per place setting, versus 4.5 litres). You can save even more by being savvy with the way you use your washer. It helps to wait until it’s full before you switch it on, scrape off leftovers rather than rinsing, and use the eco mode, if it’s available.

4 Pay attention to dripping taps
As well as being pretty annoying, a single dripping tap can waste more than 5,000 litres of water a year – equivalent to up to 125 showers. Although it’s tempting to ignore niggly problems, a leaky tap often just requires a simple DIY fix that you might be able to tackle without having to pay for a plumber.

5 Reuse water in the kitchen
We wouldn’t recommend making your tea with old broccoli water, but there’s nothing wrong with using it to make gravy or tipping half drunk glasses of water into house plants. And if water has only been used to boil veggies, you can water your outdoor shrubs and flowers with it once it’s cooled.

6 Check your loo for leaks
If your loo is leaking, it could have a huge impact on your household’s water waste – between 200 and 400 litres a day. Whether the issue is a trickle of water at the back of the bowl, a rippling on the surface, or a full-on flow of water, it’s most likely caused by a faulty flush or fill-valve inside your cistern. A leaky loo is easily fixed, so call a plumber ASAP.

7 Look out for smart water meters
A huge rollout of smart water meters is on its way, a chance for many more of us to gain insight into exactly how much water we are using throughout the day, and what it’s costing. At present, in England, 62% of households are on a measured water tariff, and that includes 12% with smart meters. The aim is to up that figure to 51% by 2030. Look out for smart water meters as the rollout ramps up.

8 Only run your washing machine fully loaded
And, as with dishwashers, use in eco mode whenever possible. This achieves the same cleaning results but uses less water by extending soaking times.

9 Give your car a sponge bath
With your garden hose using up to 20 litres of water a minute, washing your car can result in as much as 300 litres going down the drain. A bucket and sponge is a greener way of giving your car a clean. Just 30 litres of water (a bucket full for washing and another for rinsing) is enough to leave your motor sparkling, so by grabbing a bucket and some suds, you’ll be doing your bit to save water.

10 Buy a water butt
Garden sprinklers and hose pipes left running can use between 500 and 1,000 litres of water an hour. Meanwhile, a standard water butt can hold 200 litres of rain water, which means you’re reducing pressure on the water supply every time you use it to quench your plants’ thirst.

Find out more about the new Let’s Save Water campaign and what you can do to make a difference