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Making your life greener - one bite at a time.

To get you thinking about saving water, here are our top ten water + hot water wise saving tips. And a excerpt from Karel Capek, The Gardener's Year, first published in Prague, 1929.

One would think that watering a little garden is quite a simple thing, especially if one has a hose. It will soon be clear that until it has been tamed a hose is an extraordinarily evasive and dangerous beast, for it contorts itself, it jumps, it wriggles, it makes puddles of water, and dives with delight into the mess it has made; then it goes for the man who is going to use it and coils itself around his legs; you must hold it down with your foot, and then it rears and twists round your waist and neck, and while your are fighting with it as with a cobra, the monster turns up its brass mouth and projects a mighty stream of water through the windows on to the curtains which have been recently hung.

It refreshes you enormously if you squirt with the nozzle against the wind; it is almost a water cure when it drenches you right through. A hose has also a special predilection for developing a hole somewhere in the middle, where you expect it least; and then you are standing like a god of water in the midst of sparkling jets with a long snake coiled at your feet; it is an overwhelming sight. When you are wet to the skin you contentedly declare that the garden has had enough, and you go get dry. In the meantime the garden said "Ouf", lapped up your water without a wink, and is as dry and thirsty as it was before. KAREL CAPEK, The Gardener's Year, first published in Prague, 1929.

Heating water burns you money as well as producing pollutions. Try these simple ideas for reducing hot water usage and water wastage in the green household.

1. Fix dripping taps. Forty-five drops a minute is 10 baths of water a year.

2. Avoid using water if you don’t need to (e,g. sweep paths instead of hosing). This way you won't get all wet like Karel Capek. Don't rinse dishes under a running hot tap. Use a sink or better still a bucket (and reuse the water) full of water instead. Avoid turning the hot tap on for small quantities of water. This leaves the pipes full of hot water, which cools and is wasted.

3. Turn the tap off when you can – don’t use running water to wash your hands, clean your teeth, wash vegetables, shave, etc.Turn off the hot water system if you'll be away from home for more than 2 or 3 days.

4. Fit aerator nozzles to taps - these reduce flow without compromising use.Consider fitting a flow restriction disc to your current shower rose. Use low-flush or waterless toilets, and collect, store and use rainwater.

5. Use water efficient appliances – make sure when you buy new dishwashers, washing machines, etc that you choose water efficient models. Insulate your storage tank. Between 15 and 20 oer cent of running and electric hot water service is due to heat losses from the storage tank. Reduce losses by wrapping the tank in foil-backed insulating blanket held in place with ducting tape. (Do not add extra insulation to gas systems as they may overheat.) Install an on-demand hot water system if you have the choice /as they are the most efficient. You are not paying to heat stored water. ( Or install a solar hot water heater) Locate new hot water systems near where you use hot water to cut the amount of hot water and energy lost through cooling in pipes.

6. Install a water-efficient showerhead. These usually pay for themselves in the first year of use. The shower is the largest user of household hot water and accounts for around 20 per cent of the greenhouse pollution in the average home. These showerheads use less water, reducing both pollution and heating costs. Install dual flush toilets – some can use as little as three litres on the lower flush.

7. Take shorter showers – use a timer to help you monitor how long you are in the shower.

8. Always run appliances (washing machines, dishwashers) with a full load so that you do fewer cycles per week. Continue to wash clothes in cold water if you're satisfied with the result.

9. Think about ways to re-use household water on the garden – e.g. you can throw the dirty water on the garden, use washing machine water, keep a bucket in the shower.

10. Water gardens appropriately – don’t water lawns, don’t water in the heat of the day, do use water efficient plants, and do train plants to put down deep roots by watering less frequently.

If you think water, act water, to reduce water wastage, you will not only save money, but help reduce your impact on the environment.

So keep up the good work and continue to stop the drop — always.

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"When the well's dry, we know the worth of water."Benjamin Franklin

If you live in an area where water shortages are not an issue, consider yourself lucky. Nearly 450 million people in 29 countries face severe water shortages. Predictions indicate that within 5 years, at least 36 U.S. states will face water shortages due to a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, and waste.

But there is hope -- research has shown that residential water use could be reduced by as much as 50 percent through efficiency.

To measure how much water your average shower uses, hold a bucket under the shower for 10 seconds. Measure this volume and multipy by 6 to give you the number of gallons (litres) per minute.