water

March 19 – Wash Full Loads

“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.

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March 17 – Fix and Report Water Leaks

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” ~ Jeremiah 2 :13 “A drop a day, wastes the water away” / “Don’t be a LEAK in the pipeline” According to World Wildlife Fund South Africa’s report 2016: 37% of water in our urban piped water systems leaks out or is used illegally. That is more than a third of the country’s water going to waste. That is a rather alerting number and something definitely needs to be done about it. Finding and fixing leaks is an essential part of reducing water wastage in our homes, businesses, sports clubs, schools, places of worship, and everywhere else in our communities What can you do? Implement smart metering to give alerts when leaks occur. Track water usage using an app and set water usage targets. Shower instead of bath. Compile a list of plumbers and municipal numbers for repairs Report water leaks How to check for a leak at home: Stop all water use. Close all taps on the property and don’t flush toilets. Check and record your meter reading. Wait 15 minutes and take another reading. Make sure nobody has opened a tap or flushed a toilet since you first noted the meter reading. If there is a difference, you have a leak to fix. As per the City’s Water By-law you need to take action quickly. If you know how to fix a leak, fix it yourself or call a plumber to help Always report leaks in your local municipality. Here is a link for contact details to report leaks: https://m-net.dstv.com/show/carte-blanche/news/report-water-leaks/news

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