Wat-er Waste!
Are you getting ready for a water shortage that may occur soon?
County Down locals waste precious water supplies by showering over double the recommended time, reveals a survey.
* Northern Irish residents shower on average for 10.7 mins per day.
* South Easterners are the least wasteful, whilst the Scots are the most wasteful.
Following a summer of heatwaves, signs of climate change are more apparent than ever. Experts have been warning us for many years that we need to act now to avoid water shortages in coming years. Whilst many of us are very conscious of our gas and electricity usage, somehow many of us are much more liberal when it comes to how much water we wash away. The head of the Environment Agency has suggested that we should all be given personal water targets to prevent damage to wildlife and rivers from future water shortages.
Soap making supplier experts, Soap Supplier ran a survey of 2,000 Brits to find out how much water we’re really wasting.
Experts believe that we should be limiting our time in the shower to just four minutes. So, how many of us are already doing this? Well, not that many, it turns out! Overall, Soap Supplier found that, on average, Brits spend an average of 10 whole minutes under the shower. Clearly, this is twice what’s been recommended, so it’s time to take notice and change our habits.
This pales into insignificance, however, next to the UK’s biggest water-wasting culprits: people in Scotland. They spend an average of 11.2 minutes under the shower – what on earth can they be doing in there?! Not far behind are those mucky pups in Northern Ireland, who take an average of 10.7 minutes!
The ones who spend the least time in the shower every day are those in the South East, who are in and out in 9.1 minutes.
To see how your region compares, check out our infographic:
https://soapsupplier.co.uk/brits-waste-water-heatwave/
Soap Supplier made some other discoveries, too:
* nearly two thirds (54.9%) of Brits confess they have made a decision not to reduce their water usage, even during this hot summer, preferring to splash it about, literally.
* and just over a quarter of us are sensibly recycling our water by saving any rainwater from the recent rain to use on our plants and in our gardens.
* Shockingly, almost 1 in 10 Brits have revealed that if a hosepipe ban were to come into place, they wouldn’t stick to it!
Soap Supplier have provided a few simple tips on how you can easily reduce water wastage at home:
* repair any dripping taps by replacing the washers. One drop per second wastes a horrifying 2,700 gallons of water per year (not to mention the annoying sound it makes…)
* turn off the tap while brushing your teeth! You don’t need to keep it running during this time – you only need a bit of water to rinse
* don’t flush the loo so much. You’ve heard the phrase, ‘if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down’; apply this! And if you get up at night to go to the loo, leave it till morning to flush.
* if you have a garden, install a plastic barrel to catch rainwater and use this to water your lawn and plants instead of a hosepipe
* most lawns will recover fairly quickly anyway; don’t worry if it goes brown, grass can stay dormant for a while without needing water
* only run the washing machine or dishwasher when it has a full load
“It’s a bit of a worry that Brits are using up so much water, especially when it comes to showering,’ says Nicky Story of Soap Supplier. ‘The rule of thumb is to put on a pop song and make sure you’re in, washed and out in the length of time it takes to play. If our summers get hotter, we’ll all need to do our bit, so be warned!”
