Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: Andrew K Fletcher on 24/06/2010 20:57:54
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http://www.waterwise.org.uk/reducing_water_wastage_in_the_uk/house_and_garden/clothes_washing_at_home.html
According to Water Wise, we use about 14% per cent of our domestic water supply to wash clothes. A new machine uses around half the water and energy of the average 10-year-old machine. Many of the most efficient washing machines now use less than 50 litres of water per wash.
Washing machine use has risen by 23% in the past 15 years, up from 3 times a week in 1990 to an average of 4 times a week per household today.
If your machine is 10 years or more, it will use 100 litres per wash, Washing 4 times a week will use 400 litres. Many families wash 7 times a week, that’s a whopping 700 litres down the drain.
Installing this DIY grey water system saves the 700 litres of water from the plughole, and enables us to re-use the water for other tasks including watering the garden, cleaning the car, hosing down the patio and flushing the toilet. This means we have liberated the 700 litres from the water rates. We now grow our own food and use the grey water for all the plants in the garden except for salad plants, saving us a lot of extra money by not having to drive to the supermarket to get certain expensive summer food.
The cost to install it yourself is £39.00 for the pump (Ebay) £10.00 for the switch and fittings to connect it (local trade plumbing store) £15.00 for the plastic barrel (ex fruit juice container from Mole Valley Farmers) just under £65.00 completed.
24 June 2010
Sefton and West Lancashire facing hosepipe bans as water supply dwindles
The north west will face the prospect of hosepipe bans unless there is significant rainfall before the end of this month, the region's water providers warned this week.
http://www.champnews.com/html/newsstory.asp?id=8345