“And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.” ~ Leviticus 14:8
#fillItUp
“The fuller, the better”
One of the major water uses in households is laundry. 15-20% of water is consumed by laundry. There are various ways in which we can reduce water usage when it comes to laundry. The extra benefit from saving water is that you will save money as well; especially if you purchase water from a municipality.
Things to do:
Washing a full load of laundry is the most water-efficient choice. It takes as much energy and water to wash a full load as it does a half load, unless the machine has special sensors or half-load setting options. And most of us only load our washers to half-full, so break out the bathroom scales to see just how much your washer can actually handle – you may be quite surprised.
If you only have a few items to clean, take time to adjust the settings to the smallest capacity possible. Selecting the right cycle for each load will save water and improve your cleaning results.
Skip the extra rinse cycle on your washer. If you are using the correct amount of detergent and loading the washer properly, you don’t need it.
Pre-soak or pre-treat heavily soiled items. That way you won’t have to wash them twice.
If your machine has energy-saving features, use them. These can include a ‘fast wash’ program for lightly soiled clothes or water-saving programs.
The nitty gritty:
- Front loaders use less water than top loaders
- Automatic load-sensing or reduced-load functions can help save water
- Reuse the wash and/or last rinse water on your garden
- Check the water-efficiency label, which is a guide to how efficiently different models use water, and
If you use a greywater system to recycle water for use in your garden, make sure you use a garden-safe laundry detergent.