Water is essential to life. It plays a part in almost all of our daily activities.
Water conservation is important because:
780 million people in the world lack access to clean water
only 1% of the world’s water supply is available for human consumption
as the world’s population reaches 9 billion, the demand for water is increasing
each Briton uses about 150 litres of tap water a day, but if you include water embedded within products, our consumption increases to about 3,400 litres a day
Did you know?
A tap dripping at the rate of one drop per second would waste enough water in one day to make 12 mugs of coffee. Over a year, this dripping tap would waste the average person's total water supply for 11 days.
You can report any water defect, whether it's a dripping tap, overfilling toilet, leaking pipe or water which is too hot, by getting in touch with the ESS Helpdesk.
Avoid using hoses for washing floors, unless absolutely necessary.
Make sure taps, hoses or cooling systems are turned off after use.
Dripping hot water taps waste energy as well as water. Please report all faults to ESS customer services on Extension 87171.
In the lab
Use recirculating cooling systems.
Avoid using water vacuum pumps – they use huge quantities of water.
Don’t use distilled water when it is not necessary.
Reduce the water supply to water-cooled equipment to the minimum required to achieve adequate cooling.
If you feel you could reduce your lab consumption, but may require funding, please get in touch by emailing sustainable.campus@ncl.ac.uk.
At home
When purchasing a new toilet, look for a dual flush option.
Using a shower timer can help reduce water use in the shower – a shower timer is typically set to four minutes.
Only use a dishwasher on a full load and avoid pre-rinse settings.
Use efficient dishwasher and washing machine appliances.
Only fill the kettle with as much water as you need, saving energy as well as water.
