Water is one of the most important substances on earth. It is essential for life and health, as well as domestic uses such as sanitation and washing clothes, to commercial and industrial purposes. It is vital that we protect our natural resources, so water recycling is great way to help the environment and will save you money too.

Here are some great tips for recycling water around the home and garden:

In the home

• Wash your vegetables in a bowl of water, instead of under a running tap. You can then save the water and use it in your garden or water your plants with it.
• Install a dishwasher. Washing up by hand uses more water than a dishwasher. A study at the University of Bonn in Germany found that, the dishwasher uses only half the energy, one-sixth of the water, and less soap. If you wait to your dishwasher is full, you will save even more cash.
• Collect the water from a leaky tap. Surprisingly, as much as 2 gallons of water can be collected from a leaking tap overnight.
• Install a grey water system. Grey water is domestic waste, so the water that has been used for showering, doing laundry or washing the dishes. Grey water systems divert that water, so it doesn’t go to waste. So instead of this water going down the drain, it might divert the water from your shower drain and use it for flushing the toilet.
• Use a shower bucket. When you are waiting for the water to heat up in the shower, use a bucket to collect the water. That water can then be put to good use, watering the plants or flushing the toilet.
• If you have a bath, instead of wasting the water by letting it go down the drain, you can reuse it. It’s fine for cleaning the car or mopping the floor.
• If you have a fish tank. When you clean the tank out, reuse the water. It is ideal for watering plants and it will provide natural fertilisers.

Outdoors

• Install water butts. These can collect gallons of rainwater fairly quickly. The water can be used for watering your lawn and plants as well as flushing the toilet. It’s also ok for animals to drink. This water can be stored and used during the summer months when the garden most needs it.
• When you wash your car, if possible clean it close to your lawn. The water that drains away will water the grass. The soap will not harm your lawn or plants. Also, use buckets of water rather than a hose, this way you can keep an eye on how much water you have used. If you wash your car on your driveway, you can use the water that drained of for cleaning your drive.
• Make a rain garden. A rain garden is a shallow trough that has absorbent, free draining soil that is planted with vegetation that can withstand occasional temporary flooding. These are often seen in urban areas, but can be created in any low lying area of a garden. Collect and reuse rain water from roofs and guttering and channel it through a drainage system to a beautiful rain garden.

The pros of recycled water

From ethereal rain gardens, to clean veggies – recycled water can be used in a variety of ways in your home and garden.