Monday 18 February 2013

Greywater Recycling

We have always discussed how vital a resource water is and how our survival depends on it. It’s as simple as that, if there’s no water, we will cease to exist. And not only us, but all forms of life would cease to exist.

Recent times have seen water cuts and water shortage being experienced the world over, water conservation is the need of the hour and we need to act fast in order to save the one element we cannot survive without. However, even in this timely hour, there are people who do not understand the seriousness of the matter and do as they please.

One technique each one of us should adopt is greywater recycling. Greywater is basically all the waste water in our household, collected from washbasins, showers, bathtubs and washing machines. Normally we would just discard this water on account of it being dirty and already used. However, we can recycle and reuse this water and use it to cater to other needs such as watering your lawn/garden or using it to flush the toilet. 

There are just a few things to be kept in mind before you start using greywater for other needs. Firstly you must ensure they are no toxins or corrosive substances that could damage your plants when used to water them. Also if the water you use to wash dishes is untreated, it might contain substances like grease and which would make it unfit to be used as greywater. Also keep in mind that water with excessive salt is also potentially damaging to plants and hence should not be used. This is almost all you need to know about greywater, so from now onwards instead of throwing your used water away, put it to some good use.

Thursday 7 February 2013

Household Water Conservation Tips


In our previous post, we discussed how important a commodity water is, and how we need to do everything in our power to conserve water. There’s no denying the importance of water and yet we waste large volumes of it every single day. The abundance of water has led to us misusing it and hence, we find ourselves in this situation, where our most vital resource for survival is rapidly depleting.

The task of water conservation is something each one of us has to do, just because your neighbour doesn't do it, doesn't mean you don’t. It must be a joint effort made by each one of us, wherein, the tiny amount of water saved by each of us adds to a significantly large amount. Let’s have a look at some very simple ways in which we can save water in our homes.

Install low-flow showerheads: Installing a low flow shower and tap is the simplest way of conserving water. Using these fittings in your bathroom and kitchen would bring down your overall water consumption by almost 50%. Also, try and cut down your shower by a few minutes, this would save around 550 liters of water every month. 

Convert your toilet into a dual flush: A dual flush is a variation of the flush toilet which consists of two different buttons which release different amounts of water. This will avoid a lot of water wastage.

Do not thaw frozen foods under flowing water as this leads to a lot of wastage, instead try and use the defrost setting on your microwave or leave it in your fridge overnight.

Always check your faucets: Leaky faucets are a major cause for water wastage. If a faucet drips at one drop per second, you would waste around 9,000 of water a year. This would also strain your septic tank and sewer utilities. All this can be avoided very easily by checking your faucets from time to time.

Do not ever throw used water down the drain as it could be used for a bunch of other purposes such as watering the plants or garden.

Get all your water pipes insulated, this will help you help you get hot water instantly and avoid you wasting water while letting it heat up.

Apart from helping conserve water, these tips will help you reduce your water utility bill, reduce water pollution in nearby lakes and rivers and largely extend the life of your septic tank. We would strongly urge you to follow these tips in order to do your part in saving our most vital resource, water.