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Have you thought about how much water you use? If you’re on a water meter, you probably have, after getting your water bill! But if not, you may not have given it much thought. Our family are always looking for easy ways to help the planet and our next mission is to save water.
My collaboration with SaveMoneyCutCarbon has already helped us save money on electricity bills with LED lightbulbs and cut plastic waste in our kitchen. Saving water is the next thing to tackle.
So what’s the quickest and easiest way to save water? Read on to find out!
Why Should We Save Water?
Clean water is one of Earth’s most precious commodities. Although here in the UK, we seem to always be complaining about the rain, we still need to be careful of how much we use. With climate change bringing hotter summers, it’s predicted we will suffer more water shortages. Independent NGO Waterwise say that by 2050, the amount of water available could be reduced by 10-15%. That could lead to significant water deficits.
According to Waterwise around 68% of the total water we use in our houses is in the bathroom: around 96 litres a day per person. So saving water in the bathroom is a great place to start.
Replacing Our Old Shower Heads with Water Saving Shower Heads
With four of us in the house, our bathroom gets a lot of use. And it’s only set to rise as our daughters turn into teens! Our bathroom has two shower heads: an overhead fixed shower, and a smaller hand shower. They had both seen better days, and when I tested the water flow from them each, it was clear we could save water.
We replaced both shower heads with Grohe water-saving versions. It took just a few seconds to unscrew the old ones and screw on the new ones, so it couldn’t be quicker or easier. We chose a basic Grohe hand held shower head, and a Grohe Rainshower overhead shower head which have special technology to mix air with the water to create a stronger flow, using less water. Because we are in the SaveMoneyCutCarbon Club, we had exclusive savings of ยฃ14.
Our Old Water Flow Rates
These are the readings from our old hand shower and overhead shower: 7 litres a minute and 12 litres a minute.
Our old hand shower was a more eco friendly one but didn’t feel very powerful. The overhead shower had started to go a bit manky, and only my husband used it as I didn’t find it powerful enough to rinse my hair.
Our New Water Flow Rates
So how much water do the new shower heads save? We did our flow test again and these are the results:
The new hand shower uses around 6 litres a minute.
Our new shower heads will save us save a litre per minute on the hand shower and 4 litres per minute on the overhead shower. And I think that will quickly add up! Saving water in the shower will also save the energy used to heat it, so it’s a win/win.
How Do Our Water Saving Showers Feel?
We are really pleased with the new shower heads. The overhead shower in particular is a real success as it feels more powerful and saves water. It has a special head where the water is directed slightly inwards, so all of the water goes over you. I’m not sure whether it’s that, or the special valve that makes it feel more powerful, but it is so much nicer.
I wish I’d paid more attention to the colour of the shower heads and got both white or both grey. It would have been nice if they matched. But other than that, we are really happy with our new shower heads that save water, feel great and look good. I also like the way the hand held shower head didn’t come with a shower hose. Our old one was perfectly fine, so it would have been wasteful to have replaced it.
