It's easy to take water for granted. Just turn on the tap and you have water for cooking, bathing, cleaning and your garden. But taking care of our water is good – both for our finances in the shorter term and for our future.
Here are our tips for saving water
Use a faucet aerator
Do you have an aerator on your water tap or shower? It mixes water with air, so you save water without noticing it. Adjust the water flow according to your consumption:
- Bathroom tap: Waterflow of four litres per minute
- Bathroom shower: Waterflow of 8-9 litres per minute
- Kitchen tap: Waterflow of 8-9 litres per minute.
You can buy faucet aerators at your local DIY store or ask your plumber or caretaker
Shorten your shower time
Note how long you stand under your hot shower. If you shorten your shower by just one minute, you can save up to 12 litres of water. One minute saved translates into an annual saving of around 4,000 litres of water, or DKK 250. Multiply that amount by the number of people living in your home and you can see the potential.
Use water wisely
• Keep a jug of cold water in your fridge. That way you don’t need let the tap run for a long time to get a glass of cold water.
• Rinse your vegetables in a basin instead of under a running tap. More water will not make them any cleaner, so use water with care.
• Always use a basin when washing dishes by hand. Running water is a waste of good energy.
Turn off the tap
Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth and when soaping yourself at the sink or under the shower. You can save 4-8 litres of water for every minute you turn off the tap.
Running toilet?
Keep an eye on whether your toilet is running. Even a toilet that is running so little you almost can’t see it can waste 100m3 of water a year. That adds up to roughly DKK 7,000. If water is clearly leaking from the cistern, the amounted wasted mounts up to between DKK 14,000 and DKK 30,000 a year.
If you are unsure whether or not your toilet is leaking, try the paper test: place a piece of toilet paper on the inside of your dry toilet bowl where the water comes out. If the paper gets wet, you should react.
Watch our video with the toilet test: is your toilet running? Choose English subtitles under settings
Dishwasher
Stop rinsing plates, cutlery and glasses before putting them in the dishwasher. Just scrape off the leftover food and let the dishwasher handle the rest. This will help you save around DKK 500 a year. Completely fill the machine before starting it. And wash using an eco-programme whenever possible.
Washing machine
- Only wash your clothes when you can fill a machine. Wash at the lowest possible temperature. Anything else is a waste of good energy.
- Read the washing powder dosage, so you don’t overdose. Too much soap benefits neither your clothes nor your wastewater. The more substances the wastewater has to be treated for, the more energy we waste.
Good tips for house owners
Collect rainwater
Collect rainwater in a rainwater barrel or a bucket – then you can use it to water your garden or wash your car.
Water with a watering can
Use a watering can when you water your flower beds and potted plants. Watering with a garden hose uses 12 litres of water a minute and a lot of water is often wasted without benefiting your flowers. Water your plants in the evening when the sun’s rays are weaker. That way you avoid the water evaporating into thin air.
Stop watering your lawn
Your lawn can become dry and yellow in the summer heat, but you don’t need to water it. Your lawn can easily manage a dry spell and will look fine again when the rain comes.
Drop large outdoor bathing pools
The largest bathing pools require as much water as you normally use in six months: a garden bathing pool of 17,000 litres will cost you about DKK 1,500 to fill. Try to find alternatives – less can be better: small paddling pools, or cool off with water balloons or water pistols. Make use of the beach and the many lakes around the city where you can swim. That is good energy.
