Save Water

Tips for Saving Water and Reducing Your Bills

Saving water has many benefits, including saving money and minimising your environmental impact.

The Best Water Saving Products You Can Fit Yourself

You can easily reduce your water consumption by fitting a few low cost water saving devices yourself. You don't need any tools or experience to fit these affordable water saving devices listed below.

Toilets
Save up to 2 litres per flush with a cistern bag.
Cistern bags are placed in the cistern of your toilet and reduce the amount of water used each time you flush.
Estimated Cost: £2.50 per toilet
Buy Cistern Bags
Taps
Save up to 50% by fitting tap aerators.
Tap aerators reduce water flow by mixing the water with air, meaning it's unlikely you'll notice a difference in pressure when washing your hands.
Estimated Cost: £3 per tap
Buy Tap Aerators
Showers
Save up to 50% with a water regulator.
You'll reduce the amount of water used when showering, meaning you'll also save on the cost of heating the hot water.
Estimated Cost: £5 per shower
Buy a Flow Regulator
Garden
Save 100's of litres with a water butt.
Collect rainwater for use when gardening or washing your car. You can connect multiple water butts as needed.
Estimated Cost: £50
Buy a Water Butt

Saving Water at Home

Reduce the amount of water used in your home with these simple steps. If you're on a water meter, you'll save money on your water bill but you'll also cut the cost of your heating bill.

Baths and Showers
Baths and showers account for the biggest share of water used at home.
Switch from baths to short showers to reduce the amount of water you are using and cut down your heating bill.
You could also fit an aerated shower head to reduce the flow without affecting the water pressure.
30% of water used at home is used for baths and showers.
Flushing Toilets
Flushing toilets is the second highest consumer of water in our homes.
Installing a modern, water efficient toilet could cut the amount of water used by more than half.
Alternatively, you could fit a cistern bag as a cheap option to reduce the amount of water per flush.
30% of water used at home is used to flush toilets.
Turn off the Taps
Simply turning off the tap when brushing your teeth is an easy way to save water.
Fitting aerators to your taps could significantly reduce your water consumption.
Dripping taps should also be fixed as soon as possible.
A dripping tap could waste over 5,000 litres per year.
In the Garden
Using recycled water where possible is an easy way to get started.
Fitting a water butt to use with a pressure washer or hose pipe could save 1000's of litres of water when gardening or cleaning your car.
Using a trigger nozzle on your hose pipe will cut water usage by 50%.
A hose pipe uses more than 100 litres in just 10 minutes.

Check for Water Leaks

If you've noticed an increase in your water bill, you could have a water leak. It's easy to check if there's a water leak in your home which could be wasting water and costing you money.

1. Check your water meter

Start by turning off any items in your home that could be using water: taps, showers, washing machines or dishwashers etc.

Take a meter reading, then don't use any water for long as possible (a few hours is ideal). When you come back to take a second reading, if the meter has moved, you have a leak somewhere in or outside your home.

2. Turn off the water

If your water meter moves with all items turned off, you should turn off the stop tap inside your house (this will usually be located under the kitchen sink).

If the meter still moves with the stop tap off, it's likely that you've got an underground leak somewhere between the meter and your stop tap. You should contact your water supplier for more information.

3. Isolate the leak

If the water meter stops moving after turning off the stop tap, you have a leak somewhere inside your home. The next step would be to find out what's leaking and try and turn off the water to this item.

4. Check for leaking toilets

Leaking toilets may have water running inside the bowl constantly. You could also purchase some leak detection tablets to add to your toilet cistern. These dye the water inside blue and make it much easier to spot any leaks.

5. Check for dripping taps

Look around your house for any taps that may be dripping slowly. You may be able to switch off the water to individual taps behind your sink which could help to rule out the source of any leaks.

6. Check any outside taps

Outside taps could be leaking from the tap from a split in the supply pipe. You may also be able to isolate any garden taps to rule them out.

7. Check for damp patches or mould

If you're still unable to find the source of a leak, you could look for any damp patches or mould around plumbing that could indicate a leak.

8. Contact a plumber

A meter that is moving despite no obvious leaks could indicate a hidden problem, for example under the floor boards. You should consider contacting a professional to get repairs made and prevent further damage to your property.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I know if I have a water leak?

You can check for a water leak by turning off all items in your home that consume water and taking a meter reading. You should then wait a couple of hours and take another reading.

If your meter has moved, then you have a water leak and should take steps to fix it to avoid wasting water and prevent damage to your property.

How do I save water at home?

If you're trying to save water and reduce your bills, you should start with the items that consume the most water first.

Reducing the amount of water used by your shower and toilet could save 1000s of litres per year and have the most dramatic impact on your bills quicker than any other items in your home.

How do I save water in the bathroom?

Showers and toilets and the largest consumers of water in your home.

You can fit a range of cheap water saving devices to your shower and toilet that will have an instant impact on the amount of water you are using.

How do I save water in the kitchen?

You can take a number of very simple steps to reduce the amount of water used in your kitchen:

  • Fit tap aerators to reduce the amount of water used for washing your hands
  • Use your dishwasher on a water efficient setting
  • Only wash full loads in the washing machine
  • Check for leaking pipes and dripping taps

How do I save water in the garden?

Fitting a water butt is an easy way to cut down hose pipe use and recycle rainwater for use in your garden.

Using rainwater for garden can save 1000s of litres of water and cut down your bills.