It may be the wet, rainy season again, but when it comes to saving water, we should not let our guard down. In fact, this year observed record high temperatures, and this is likely to continue or even worsen in years to come.
While we have been successful in overcoming our need for potable water, we must still prevent the wastage of our water supply. We must never take for granted that we will always have ready access to clean water. Even countries that are generally water self—sufficient like USA, UK, Brazil and Taiwan have had to practise water rationing.
The things you can do are simple and easy to adopt and, remember, it helps you to save on your water bill:
Install a thimble on your taps
Thimbles help to save water from a running tap by reducing the amount of water that is being dispensed. Contact PUB at 1800-2846600 for an appointment to fit the thimbles for you free of charge, or request a free water saving kit through PUB’s webpage http://www.pub.gov.sg/quizsurvey/ Pages/RequestforWater SavingKit.aspx to install it yourself.
Buy water-efficient appliances
The Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme is a scheme that grades eligible products based on how good they are at making every drop count. Products that are mandatorily labelled under this scheme include washing machines, taps, mixers, dual-flush low capacity flushing cisterns, urinal flush valves, waterless urinals. Showerheads may be graded under this scheme, but it is not compulsory. The grades are reflected with ticks. The more ticks the product has, the more water wastage it prevents. Three ticks indicate the best performance, while zero is the least water-efficient.
Teach your domestic helper to conserve water
Remember your domestic helper comes from a different society. So familiarise her with the usage of appliances and how she can help save water. For example, show her how to use recycled water after washing clothes to flush the toilet closets. Or, when washing utensils don’t turn the tap at the maximum, or unnecessarily leave the tap water running.
Water leakage in public areas
Very often, we take good care of our own homes, but public property is “none of my business”. That is the wrong attitude. Public water leakage leads to a significant amount of water wastage, especially if it goes unnoticed for days, and this water wastage contributes to our water shortage woes.
If you notice water leakage within public areas of your housing estate, do report it to the Town Council. Water leakages and malfunctioning taps in buildings should be reported to the management or simply reported at the service desk. For water leakage in public areas, call the PUB 24-hour helpline 1800-2846600.
Creative ways to save water:
1. Put a brick or filled water bottle in your toilet cistern to prevent over-flushing.
2. Before getting into the shower, play a song on your phone and challenge yourself to turn off the shower before the song ends. The aim is to cut your time spent under the shower. But, don’t cheat with exceptionally long tunes!
3. Detect water leakage from your cistern by putting food colouring in it. Then fix the leakage to avoid long-term wastage.
4. When waiting for the shower water to warm up, collect the cold water that precedes the warm water in the bucket. lt’s clean water with valuable use!
– This article first appeared in a lifestyle magazine
