FOCUSING ON WATER CONSUMPTION


We have all probably heard the advertisement claiming that the next world war might probably be about water.  South African media has also given significant focus to the threatening water crises in our country i.e. changing climate, polluted rivers and underground water, poor maintenance of pipelines and a general disregard for conserving a scarce resource.  Our country is considered an arid (dry) country with an average annual rainfall of around 500mm compared to the world standard of 860mm.  To aggravate this South Africa has a potential water "loss" of between 1100 and 3000mm annually through evaporation.  With an estimated annual population growth of around 2%, we can ill-afford to "loose" water.

Since rainfall, evaporation and, to a large extent, population growth are givens, we need to focus on ways to stop water wastage and minimise our water usage.  This is another of the focus areas where GreenKonsult can be your partner in water awareness.  Although the price of water is relatively inexpensive and therefore often not considered an issue in the average household, we have a moral responsibility to save water.  Some significant electricity savings can be indirectly realised through domestic water conservation strategies.  These are mainly through managing the use of hot water through reducing volume of bath water, length of showers, use of water-saving shower roses, attending to tap and pipe leaks, and reducing need to have hot water taps running for lengthy periods.  

Different water conservation strategies include the re-use of grey water, harvesting rain water, waterwise gardening, smart irrigation systems, not irrigating between 10h00 and 16h00, re-using backwash pool water through installing a settlement tank,  twin flush toilets or reducing the cistern's volume.