There are many ways that you can save water around your home. You may find the following tips helpful.

• Use a bowl in the sink when washing fruit, vegetables or dishes. You can then use the waste water to water your plants.
• Fill a jug of water and put it in the fridge for when you want a cool drink.
• Turn off the tap when you clean your teeth. A running tap uses up to nine litres of water a minute.
• Wait until you have a full load before using your washing machine or your dishwasher. Some new washing machines use less than seven litres of water for each kilogramme of clothes, while modern dishwashers can use as little as 10 to 15 litres of water a cycle.
• If possible, take a shower instead of a bath. A five-minute shower uses about 40 litres of water. This is about half the volume of a standard bath.
• Use a water-saving device in your toilet cistern. Depending on the size of your cistern, you could save between one and three litres each time you flush the toilet.
• Use a watering can in the garden instead of a sprinkler or a hosepipe. Garden sprinklers and hosepipes left running can use between 500 and 1,000 litres of water an hour.
• Think about fitting a water butt to collect rainwater off your roof. Water butts usually store about 200 litres of water. As well as being better for watering your plants, using rainwater in the garden reduces the amount of treated water you use.