House 1 - Summary Of Water Use Savings

This graph shows how water use has varied over the last few years. Serious efforts to save water started around June 2004 as I implemented all the Simple Tips. How we managed to use the same amount of water in three successive periods defeats me, however I do know the September 2002 to March 2003 period was affected by a burst hot water tank which flooded parts on the house and I estimate wasted 3 to 4 cubic meters of water. I expect water use to be lower in the winter because we still use some water for the garden and there tends to be more use of baths and showers in hot weather. The high rainfall in summer 2007 helped the figures. Water use for summer 2009 is almost identical to summer 2008 and is probably lower than it should be due to the amount of time we were away both summers.

The graph below shows the percentage water saving by comparing March to September periods with March 2002 to September 2002 and September to March periods with September 2002 to March 2003. The saving for the September 06 to March 06 period is lower than expected due to extensive use of a power washer in March, this job normally gets done in April. The figures for 2006 show a marked reduction, I suspect because we used very little mains water in the garden last year and use of the power washer was all in March plus we gained a bit from the changes made to the toilets and new dishwasher is being used a lot less than I originally anticipated. The savings over 2007/8 have continued mainly due to more use of showers, more efficient use of the dishwasher and washing machine plus less use of the power washer. The 2007/8 figures shown a year on year reduction of around 60% which is really good news both for my pocket and the environment. The saving for 2008 is overstated due to us not being around for a of of the summer and as expected winter 2009 is quite a bit higher. It is now going to get much harder to save water and I expect the cost savings to tail off somewhat over the next year.