Sustainable water use
Living in a country where water supply sources are scarce and a lot of money is spent by the government to produce it, we as responsible citizens, must do our best to minimise water consumption. Adopting or increasing water pricing is one of the measures many European governments, including Malta, have chosen as a measure to reduce the demand. You, as a consumer, need to manage the economic impact of this measure by finding practical, cost-effective ways to keep paying the same amount as you previously did and the only way is to REDUCE WATER CONSUMPTION.
According to research carried out by the European Environment Agency, on average every person uses 150 litres of water per day. A third of the water consumption is used for personal hygiene, another third goes for washing clothes and dishwashing, and slightly less than a third is used for flushing toilets. The other 4-5% is what is used for drinking and cooking. Logically, to reduce consumption, you should therefore start by reconsidering two main practices – personal hygiene and laundering.
First and foremost, the water supply within your home should be well-planned and maintained. Water heaters should be placed as close to the bathroom as possible, even if not so aesthetically pleasing, and long meters of piping for hot water to reach other faucets in the home should be avoided. This saves buckets of cold water that are wasted until the desired temperature is reached. One could use instant water heaters for kitchen sinks, for example, and use the main water heater only for the bathroom. Avoid having leaking faucets. Keep in mind that every drop counts and water dripping overnight from just one faucet can add up to 15-20 litres of water being wasted, literally down the drain. Whenever possible, install rain water collection systems, such as a well or tanks on roofs. The collected, clean, rain water can then be used for home cleaning, the laundry and for flushing of toilets. Flush tanks can now have short and long flush options and special valves are also available to control the amount of water refilled in the flush tank.
Personal hygiene influences our health, as well as our personal, social and career life. A shower daily, if not two in summer, tooth brushing, hair washing and shaving are part of our routine. Read more
Naturally, people who frequently practice sport need to shower more often from head to toe. More than one change of clothing may be required in a day, increasing the amount of clothes to be laundered. If you wash your hair frequently, a two-in-one shampoo and conditioner would help to reduce the number of times needed to rinse your hair. Sports clothes can be washed with the rest of the clothes and, with the modern effective detergents available, they can easily be washed at low temperatures. This reduces electricity costs – not only for water heating, but also because washing at low temperatures reduces ironing time. Read more
Our clothes absorb sweat and other liquids from our skin, as well as accumulate dirt from the air and the contact with other objects. Nowadays, we have fully-automatic washing machines taking up to 7kg of laundry, tumble dryers and steam irons, making washing and pressing clothes an easier chore. But the choice of washing machine is the key to saving water. Read more
A typical Maltese Summer Sunday: Mother wakes up at 7:00am, prepares lovely tuna ftiras with fresh basil and ġbejniet. The rest of the family gets up, puts on their bathing costumes, gets the towels, mats, picnic cooler and beach toys, and by 8:30am everyone is in the car to rush off to the closest sandy beach on the island to spend the day swimming, playing and relaxing. They try to be there by 9:00a.m. to find the usual shady parking place and the usual beach spot. But to their dismay, upon arrival, they realise that the sea is full of bubbles! There are all kinds of things floating on the surface! There’ll be no swimming today because the water currents have brought all the sewage, pumped out daily into our seas, right back onto the shore! Read more
