Page 17 - Blue Valley_Issue 5_2022

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This will reduce your electricity bill too. your car. If you have to use a hose, use a to 90% of water to evaporation.
• Do not overfill containers like cooking sprayer that can be turned off in-between • Every time you boil an egg, save the
pots, as this may result in using more spraying the car. Using a garden hose cooled water for your houseplants. They
energy to heat the water. could use as much as 30 litres of water per will benefit from the nutrients released
• Reducing the toilet flush volume alone minute. from the shell.
can save 20% of total water consumption. • Do not pour paint and chemicals down • Focus on indigenous and non-water-
This can be done by putting a 2-litre cold the drain. consumptive alien plants (but not invasive
drink bottle, filled with water and a little • Farmers must ensure that they keep toxic alien plants).
sand to add weight, into the cistern. insecticides away from water sources and • Group plants according to their water
• Fix a leaking toilet otherwise it can waste streams. needs and to mulch around them.
up to 100 000 litres of water in one year. • Factories should take care of how they • Water gardens less frequently, but water
• Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily. discharge mercury and other heavy well. Using a garden hose could use as
Dispose of tissues, insects and other metals into wastewater. much as 30 litres of water per minute.
waste in the trash rather than the toilet. • People living in rural areas should be • Remove invasive alien plants on your
Every time you flush the toilet, 12 litres of careful not to use the river or riverbank as property.
water is used. a toilet. • Roof water can also be profitably stored in
• Use “grey water” — used water from baths, tanks, for watering gardens.
washing machines and other safe sources IN THE GARDEN • Use “grey water” - used water from baths,
to flush your toilet. • Always water your plants during the early washing machines and other safe sources
• Do not over-fill or excessively backwash morning hours or in the evening, when - to water your garden.
your swimming pool. temperatures are cooler.
• Use a bucket rather than a hose to wash • Between 10:00 and 15:00 one can lose up Data source: National water security | South African
Government (www.gov.za)

BLUE VALLEY NEWS • Issue 5 2022• 15