F16
Issued 1/5/1999

91 Hammond Avenue, PO Box 456
Wagga Wagga NSW 2650
Phone 02 6922 0608 Fax: 02 6921 2241
Email: admin@rwcc.com.au

Can you imagine 900 one-litre milk cartons each filled with water being delivered to your doorstep every morning?. Astonishingly, that's how much water is used every day by the average Australian household.

Just outside, the average household uses 170,000 litres of water every year. That's enough to fill four backyard swimming pools. All this water is sprinkled, squirted, dropped, gushed and quite often wasted.

HOW MUCH WATER DO WE USE OUTDOORS ? (Average values)

An average tap flows at up to 20 litres per minute depending on how far it's turned on. Apply this to all your outdoor watering activities (see below) and you'll be surprised at how much is actually used.

40,000 litres
1000 litres/hour
4 litres/hour
200 litres
600 litres/day
20 litres/min100 litres

SAVE WATER, SAVE MONEY, SAVE THE ENVIRONMENT
By using water sensibly and efficiently, we can all contribute to reducing community demand for this precious resource. Saving water will eliminate or defer the need for new dams and supply systems, and reduce operating costs. This will contain household water bills and reduce impact on our environment.

The aim of WaterWise is to help you achieve a balance between what you payin water bills and the benefits you obtain from the water supply.

BE WATERWISE OUTDOORS
How can we stop wasting water without affecting our lifestyle?. It's easy, just follow the simple tips in this fact sheet.

LEAKS - Regularly check taps, washers, pipes and cisterns for leaks.

• Turn all taps off before you go to bed one night and take a reading of the water meter. Check the meter next morning before any water is used. If the meter has advanced, and you are sure no-one used any water during the night, there is a leaking pipe, tap or toilet cistern. Locate the problem and repair it.
  
• A continuously dripping tap can waste 600 litres per day. Turn off all hoses with spray and watergun nozzles at the tap.

• Experiment to see how much water your garden really needs. Most lawns need no more than 25mm a week in summer. Only half this amount is needed in coastal areas. If your lawn needs, say, 15mm a week, check the output of your sprinkler by placing a few tins in the area covered by the sprinkler and timing how long it takes to collect 15mm. Then, if you water twice a week, halve this time to get the time needed for each watering. It is better to water thoroughly but only once or twice a week, as this encourages deep root growth and strong plants.
• Use efficient sprinklers that produce a fairly even water distribution. Avoid those that produce a fine mist spray which blows away in the wind.
• Don't water in the heat of the day, when a lot of water will simply evaporate and will be wasted. Water in the evening so that the water gets down to the root level for the heat of the next day.
• Avoid watering when it's windy. Not only does the wind blow the water away from the plants, it also increases evaporation.
• Water your lawn only when it needs it. A good way to see if your lawn needs watering is to step on the grass. If it springs back up when you move, it doesn't need water. If it stays flat, it may need watering.
• Reduce lawn area. This has the additional benefit of reducing your mowing. Check at your local nursery for a suitable drought-tolerant lawn grass for your area.
• Let the lawn go brown during very dry times. When the rain comes, the transformation to green will be dramatic.
• Give the lawn a feed - but do not over-fertilise.
• Aerate the soil to allow water to be absorbed more easily.
• Do not mow to a height less than 2cm. Taller grass holds water better.
• Use a timer with your sprinkler. A forgotten sprinkler wastes more than 1000 litres per hour; leave it overnight and it could cost you $10 each time. A timer will help you avoid wastage.

THE GARDEN

• Design water-efficient gardens and outdoor areas, including directing drainage from paved areas for watering garden beds.
• Plant drought-resistant native trees and plants. Many natives are both attractive and thrive with far less watering than do other species.
• Don't over-water, as this takes nutrients as well as water past the root zone. This deprives your plants of nourishment and wastes water.
• Use a good mulch. Mulches can prevent up to 75% of evaporation loss and therefore are a cheap, easy and effective technique to make the most of water in the garden. Additionally, mulches prevent excessive runoff, restrict weed growth, keep the soil cool in summer and warm in winter, improve soil structure and help put valuable nutrients back into the soil. The best mulch is a well-rotted compost. When mulching around trees, place the mulch away from the trunk to prevent collar rot occurring.
• Group plants according to how much water they need. By grouping plants into high or low water users, a watering pattern can be designed to prevent waste on plants that don't need a lot of water.
• Toughen up your plants. Too many plants are pampered to the point where they are so dependent on water they do not go out of their way to find any water themselves. Wait until the soil dries out before watering and use a plant such as bamboo as an indicator - when the leaves start to droop, then water.
• Water the highest parts of the garden first. This ensures that any runoff water soaks into lower, dry areas rather than being wasted.
• Remove weeds. Weeds compete for water and nutrients. A good mulch will help prevent weeds growing.
• Install a drip system. Drip watering, sometimes called drip irrigation or micro-irrigation, uses a permanently laid plastic pipe with dripper outlets to deliver the right amount of water to each plant at a rate the soil can readily absorb. Drip systems are both economical and easy to install, and are effective on trees, shrubs and some garden beds. They are not suitable for lawns, which require an even spread of water.
• Use micro-sprays on garden beds and small areas of lawn, if you have a lot of annuals and ferns where a drip system is not appropriate.
• Dig a small trench around trees. This will give the water a chance to soak in and reduces water lost at runoff.
• Water your pot plants by dunking them in a bucket of water. Wait a few seconds. When the bubbles disappear, do the next pot. This saves water and ensures pot plants get a thorough drink.
• Water the roots not the leaves. Contrary to popular belief, watering the leaves of trees and shrubs is not beneficial. It increases water loss through evaporation, and chlorine in the water can damage the leaves. Water drops on leaves can act as lenses, concentrating the sunlight and can burn the leaves.
• Don't water the road or pathways. Position your sprinklers so water lands on the lawn or garden, not on paved areas.
• Water carefully to avoid runoff. Soil and dissolved nutrients are carried away with runoff, which increases the need for expensive fertiliser and pollutes nearby streams. If you soil is clay, use clay-breaking agents and compost to improve the soil's water absorption characteristics.
• Use a trigger hose. This allows you to be in control and water is not wasted when moving the hose around, but remember to turn the tap off when finished in case the pressure build-up causes the nozzle to pop off.

• Keep a close eye on any playing with the hose. Squirting water around pointlessly can waste over 1000 litres per hour.
• Use a broom, not a hose, to clean paths and driveways. Cleaning a path with a broom is quicker and more efficient than using a hose, which wastes 200 litres of water every 10 minutes. Sweeping paths also improves the quality of our urban runoff and is better for our environment.
• Every house should have a compost bin. Compost improves the structure of your soil. This increases the moisture holding capacity of sandy soils and allows better penetration of water into heavy clay soils.

• Cover your pool to reduce evaporation, retain warmth and keep out leaves and dirt. Up to 200 litres of water per day can be lost because of evaporation.

• Accept some fluctuation in pool level due to evaporation and rainfall. They will often compensate for each other, meaning topping up with the hose can be avoided or reduced.
• Check the pool for leaks.

WASHING THE CAR, BOAT OR CARAVAN

Use a bucket and sponge to wash the car, boat or caravan on the lawn. Use the hose only for rinsing and turn it off between rinses. The water and the detergent are beneficial to the garden.

GENERAL Use the tips in this sheet to help you use water efficiently. Make careful water use, both indoors and outdoors, part of your family way of life.

By using water wisely, you will:

• Reduce the need for new dams and supply systems
• Keep your water bills down
• Make large savings on your energy bills for water heating
• Reduce the risk of water restrictions
• Reduce the impact on the environment.

Be WaterWise…..it's worth it !