2022 is shaping up to be one of the hottest on record. In the UK temperatures are well above average, even reaching a high of 40 degrees centigrade – an unbelievable heat for a country that struggles to get into the twenties at times!

While we have sweated our way through the summer months, and our minds have turned longingly towards the cooler, wetter, autumn, one of the major issues that the summer heat has thrown up is how we use our water, and how we deal with the lack of water as the hot weather continues, and the scarce rain that we do see barely scratches the dry and dusty surface.

It is crucial that the authorities make a water appeal to everyone in the country to use this precious resource more wisely. We have only to see how droughts affect many of the developing countries to understand the devastating effects of drought conditions, and we need to empathise with this and adjust out own habits to ensure that good practice is understood and maintained for the good of all.

There are some very simple adjustments you can make to your daily habits that will make a big difference to your consumption of water.

Run your dishwasher on short cycles

For every day pots and cups, the shortest cycle is more than capable of doing the job. Longer cycles require both more water and more heating, so you are using up two important resources.

Embrace the yellow parched look

A lush green lawn may look beautiful, but the less rain we get the more it suffers. Maintaining that green does require excessive amounts of water. During drought conditions many local water authorities will often impose a hosepipe ban, which legally prevents you from watering your lawn anyway. 

Learn to embrace the parched look, maybe think about changing the structure of your outside space to be less water reliant and more water conserving – there are plants that are designed to conserve the moisture and survive in drier conditions.

But be reassured that once the cooler, wetter weather kicks in, your lawn will demonstrate its amazing resilience, and revive itself very quickly.

Re-use water

If you do need to water areas of your garden, then re-use water that you might have previously thrown down the sink. It might be water used for washing vegetables, or water used in cooking. When you start to be more aware of how much watsed water actually goes straight down the sink, you’ll be amazed by how much you can save.

Turn off taps while brushing teeth

If you consider that you can save up to six litres of water by turning off your taps when brushing your teeth, then you will understand why the old tips are always the best ones.

Fix leaky taps

Perhaps now is finally the tight time to give your plumber a call and get him to fix that dripping tap which you have managed to ignore for so long!

Big piles of laundry

It’s always tempting to run through small laundry loads to make sure you keep on top of it. Please don’t. It uses up the same amount of water as when your machine is running with a full load. 

Short, sharp showers

Skip wallowing in the bath and keep to short, sharp showers. The recommended amount of time to spend in the shower is just four minutes – you can achieve a lot during those four minutes if you keep focussed!

Fill up a jug for drinking water

Hands up if you run the hot tap for a few minutes while you wait for the hot water to come through? Or do you run the cold water and wait for the colder water to come through for drinking. Instead of letting it run down the wastepipe, run that water into a jug, or the kettle. You can pop the jug in the fridge for constant cold water, and your kettle will be ready to boil for your cuppa!