It’s time to shower you with gifts!
Posted: February 5, 2013 Filed under: News | Tags: competition, oxijet, water use 267 Comments »Recently released in Australia, Oxijet is a shower nozzle that creates air bubbles that make your shower feel A-MAZ-ING, while at the same time cutting your water use by up to half. It was developed by New Zealand company Felton, with the expert input of our fluids specialists.
You can read more about it in our blog post from last week or check out the vid below.
Well, today we’re feeling a bit bubbly ourselves and have a handful of Oxijet nozzles to give away. All you need to do is leave your best (or most creative) water saving tip in the comments field below. Our favourite respondents will be rewarded with their very own Oxijet nozzle.
Update Thursday 7 February: This competition is now closed. Thanks for all your fantastic tips. We’ll be announcing our water-wise winners later today.
When watering hanging plants, put another plant below to catch the overflow.
Disconnect drain from sink in bathroom and place bucket under sink, use clean water from hand washing to fill cistern for toilet flushes, also stand in a 50lt rubber bucket while showering and use water for plants and trees in garden.
When I had my bathroom renovated, hoses from the shower and bath were attached to the drains that led to a small barrell outside. As this filled, a pump placed in the bottom of the barrell would pump the water through a hose onto garden beds. The hose could be easily moved around to water different parts of the garden. Small holes poked in the hose meant a large area would be watered.
After boiling potatos or rice, pour the water over weeds in your garden to act as a natural weed killer.
That’s a great tip!
That is a great tip!
Wow, does that really work. Hot or wait till the water cools?
Congrats H Hoffman, you’ve won an Oxijet! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
While you still have your gum boots on from chasing the odd sheep around the back block (like all good Kiwis) have your shower then tip the gum boots over the pot plants when finished!
Leave a watering can in the shower if you’re game. Come the end of the week you’ll have enough water to feed your hungry plants.
Congrats Dave, you’ve won an Oxijet! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
When filling the pool utilise a simple tap timer to prevent overfill
Use the Oxijet Noozle and save 50% of water
My partner and I drink Iced Espresso in the morning before work.The left over ice when you finish your coffee is enough to water the pot plant near the front door every day.
You’ve won an Oxijet too Mark! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
As the old saying goes… ‘If it’s yellow let it mellow – if it’s brown flush it down… ‘
An oldie but a goodie. Kimberly, we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Wash and rinse your dishes in a bowl that fits your kitchen sink. Once you have finished the dishes, carry the bowl outside and pour on the plants.
As the saying goes… ‘ If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down’
If you have evaporative air-conditioning, rather then the overflow going into the stormwater, attach a hose to it and water your garden.
Limit showers to 5 minutes. Give a warning after 4 minutes, then turn off the hot water at source if not heeded. Works every time, particularly with teenagers!
You’ve won an Oxijet for this tip Richard! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
stand outside on your typical sydney summer morning and take a cold shower in the rain
We fixed a waterproof kitchen timer into the shower to remind us about reducing the time for a shower.
Get a water reducing shower head, leave a bucket in the shower to catch the cold water while waiting for the hot water to run through the pipes and shower with a friend/partner (2 showers for the water of 1 and help to wash your back).
Shower with a friend – or the kids – or the dog!
Reduce consumption of energy. In Australia most of our electricity comes from coal burning power stations which use huge amounts of water to operate their steam turbines. By reducing energy consumption, and switching to renewable energy, we reduce CO2 polution and reduce water consumption.
Always fix leaky taps and shower heads, at the end of the day all this water loss can add hundreds to your water bill.
Go for a native ground cover to replace or reduce your lawn area. Keeps the cool green around your house and requires much less watering.
Congrats Louis, you’ve won an Oxijet! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Put on a Eurovision song* which has a duration of 3mins. When the song finishes, so does the shower.
*NB – It doesn’t *have* to be a Eurovision song (I’m just a huge fan). It just has to be a song of less than 4mins in duration so that you’re having a nice short shower.
It doesn’t *have* to be a Eurovision song…but it certainly should be. You’ve won an Oxijet for this gem and we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
It’s easy. Don’t shower unless you have a Felton Oxyjet showerhead (shameless plug). I wonder if my work mates will notice while I wait for that new Oxyjet to arrive………. better buy some deodorant!
Does any of these ” Water savers ” work? Would love to try this one. Great new technology.
I have a container in my kitchen sink because when I want to fill up my drink bottle it takes ages for the tap to run cold. Then I pour that water on my pot plants. Its better than ~1minute of wasted water down the drain!
I live alone therefore I am able to put the plug in my bath when I have a shower the shower is over the bath
I then use that water to flush the dual flush toilet as well as to water the fruit trees
Claire
Backwash the pool filter just when the pool is about to overflow during heavy rain such as last weekend. In that way you will delay having to add water during the next dry period.
When upgrading appliances that use water such as the dishwasher or washing machine, always look at which ones are water efficient. And outside in the garden, don’t keep watering those plants which wilt if it doesn’t rain for a few days, replace them with plants that are drought resistant. It will save you money and time in the long run. Climate Change doesn’t appear to be going anyway anytime soon.
an oldie, but a goodie:
Tips for toilet use…….if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down!
Use passive cooling of house to avoid using evaporative airconditionser: Keep house locked up in day, with windows shut, internal and external blinds closed. Open up at night when cooler outside than inside.
Good tip Geoffrey. You’ve won yourself an Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Go for a surf instead of having a shower. Stoked!!!
Each afternoon my children empty their water bottles from school on to the plants. All other watering of the gardens is done from the hose attached to our rainwater tank.
We divert the water outlet from the washing machine into a surge tank (because the water comes out of the machine faster than a hose can drain it). We then gravity feed the contents of the tank through a hose to our fruit trees. It’s the only thing that kept the (small) orchard going during the long Victorian drought! Make sure that you are using low-phosphate/low-sodium washing detergents if you are going to try this out.
always use a basin to peel veges….vege peels to into the compost and the water used go into the houseplants.
Use bath water to water the plants; wash the car; mix with eucalyptus oil to mop the floors.
Cut your lawn to a maximum of 2 cm and only water after a prolonged dry spell (“yellow” grass recovers quickly). This will reduce the necessity to water sun scorched grass following lawn-scalping!
No single or easy answer. As always a multi step approach in needed: Buckets in the shower; Connect hose to washing machine; buy an enerygy and water efficient washing machine; rain water tanks and electric pumps; lots of poly pipe irrigation with diverting taps and adjustable drippers to target the need. This fantastic new shower head is an additional part of the solution.
That’s not one tip, but five. For that, you win an Oxijet! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Collect the water from the airconditioner outlet which on a hot night means about a litre every hour. Use the water on newly planted shrubs.
Waste cooking water (from boiling vegetables/pulses/rice/pasta, etc) is full of vitamins and other micronutrients. Instead of draining them over the sink and losing all that goodness, drain them into a bowl/jug (this water can be kept in a sealed container in the fridge for a couple of days if necessary or frozen in ice cube containers for later use). Cold or at room temperature, this water can be used to water pot plants (giving them a little extra goodness at the same time) or if you plan your meals, it can be used the following night as the water required for stews, soups, stocks, etc (again to add goodness) or pour a little over your worm farm or compost (if they are a bit dry – they will love it).
put a bucket over the showerhead while the water is getting hot – the water can then be used to water the garden
I live without mains water, so to compliment the water saving shower head in the master bathroom, I added an egg timer to the shower alcove that I furiously monitored (particularly at the height of the last drought) – I was even labelled the “Water Nazi” by my family because of my water saving vigilance- surprisingly, they soon got the message and showers became so much shorter. I got mine down to 2 minutes – and no-one in the office ever mentioned that I stunk – I therefore mustn’t have!!!!!
And you definitely won’t stink with your new Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
I use a bucket in the shower to catch the cold water before the warm water comes through and I step in. It gives me enough water for my young lemon tree
If you don’t have a dish washer,
After you cook, always wash non-oily dishes together to wash it quickly(Chopping board, knives, cups, dishes, etc). Then target the oily and greasy ones. otherwise you might end up spreading the oil to all the dishes and will have to use more water and more detergent.
If you own a small fluffy dog, such as a spoodle, then take it into the shower with you and use it as your sponge/face-flannel. That way you are washing both of you at the same time, and don’t need to waste water on a separate dog bath…
Now that’s multi-tasking. You’ve won an Oxijet A Neale! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
As a former Premier of Victoria, Henry Bolte, supposedly said, always shower with s friend!
Rather than run your washing machine hose into the laundry tub and down the drain, install a by pass hose and put it on your garden, or collect in a tank for later use. Caution – do not use grey water on veggies!
We’ve changed all our guttering so that it runs into our backyard pool. It’s full of fish and yabbies and we pump out of it to water our garden and lawn. The fish poo adds fertiliser.
When we moved into our new apartment, our hose-style shower was missing its showerhead holder. Having to physically hold the showerhead meant we were forced to switch it off whenever we weren’t directly using it (like while shampooing hair). It’s saved us more water than any water-saving showerhead ever has.
Disclaimer: this may not work depending on how much you like long showers.
After the drain from the laundry was blocked by roots once too often, I disconnected the outlets from the washing machine and laundry sink, and connected them to a pipe leading outside to water the apricot trees. Lucky trees!!
Always drink the Jameson’s straight. This saves oodles of water over a cold Queanbeyan winter.
This might just be my favourite tip
You’ve won an Oxijet Alan. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
One from the CSIRO scientists (they’re very sad they can’t win!) that wrote The CSIRO Home Energy Saving Handbook: Using a timer in the shower (4 minutes) will save around 19 litres of water per shower!
When cleaning out our fish tank, we collect the nutrient-rich water and use it to water our outdoor plants
Good tip Kaylene. You’ve won an Oxijet! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Fantastic thanks!
Wipe out your dinner dishes with tissues (the used ones if they are clean and you place them separatelty for that purpose) before you wash them in the kitchen wash basin.
We have two teenage sons. To save water, we wait until they have spent long enough in the shower, and then turn on the hot tap in the kitchen. This gets them out of the shower pretty quickly…
While waiting for the shower to heat up, use a bucket to catch the cold water. Use this to water your plants.
I gave my 8 year old son a stop watch so he could time his showers. He’s very competitve so he’s always trying to beat his best time and be faster!
Turning the hot water off works a treat when trying to limit the teenagers on their shower time.
Take a dip in the ocean and save on hair styling products while you’re at it
Turn off the tap when brushing teeth, after tooth brush with toothpaste has been wetted.
Be sure to weed your garden: weeds are water thieves. Sorry it’s not very creative, but it is very true!
Alternative tip: don’t live with my boyfriend. He loves his showers far too much. We *need* this shower head.
Both good tips
Congrats Rebecca, you’ve won an Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Attach a temperature sensitive valve to your showerhead. When water is cold, the valve remains open and water is transferred to a container. When water warms up, the valve closes and water exits the showerhead. This saves the water you otherwise waste while your shower is heating up.
Love the idea, anything to make a hot shower even better.
My tip is to run the cold water pipe leading to your shower tap past the warm water that is flowing out along the drain pipe, this will recover a large amount of lost heat and reduce your hot water energy consumption.
Take a shower only once a month and wear lots of perfume.
My male children save water by not washing.
My female children don’t bother to save water while washing.
Please give me one of these Oxijet things so I can have clean children for a reasonable amount of water!
Won’t someone think of the children! Congrats Andy, you’ve won an Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Fill the kettle while waiting for the water to get hot in the kitchen sink. Otherwise that water just goes down the drain
Connect the rinse water from your washing machine to water outside plants.
Watch A-MAZ-ING results!
Relax about your washing up (if you have a small household), and save up your dishes until you have a full dish-rack. Letting the water run more slowly so you can soap and rinse whilst filling the basin is also a great idea (but you’ve got to start with the cleanest things first!).
Report public toilets that don’t have dual flush toilets fitted to their appropriate owners for retrofit. Ask them to fit cisterns that have the handbasin on top. This will help drive down the cost of these currently expensive models making them cheaper for everyone else to install in the near future.
Good tip Leon – it’s earned you an Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Evaporative air conditioning systems are very common here in WA, we made sure to buy the most water efficient one we could find, however, every four hours or so it empties it’s tank to refresh the water. We keep a bucket under the drain to water our water-wise garden – its good for the arms too, lugging the buckets about. Some days we just use the fan and don’t turn on the evaporation, then it uses no water at all!
You get the extra benefit of a workout! Congrats Ally, you’ve won an Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
I am extremely interested in using this amazing shower device.
Could you say where I can purchase one from please?
Thank you,
Chris
Chris, you can find a list of Australian stockists here: http://www.nekeema.com.au/oxijet.html If there’s not one in your area you can contact sales@nekeema.com.au
Thank you for supplying the list of Aussie distributors and email address.
Much appreciated.
Give your greasy dishes to the dog to lick clean and save loads of hot water in the rinsing stage.
PS don’t forget give the dishes a good scrub before re-using – just use less water
PPS I was horrified when a friend demonstrated this to me once, but now I have a dog I can see the efficacy of the approach
PPPS … though it is probably still recommended not to do this in front of visitors
I have been known to do this myself Sue (just not in front of guests!) You’ve won an Oxijet and we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Run a hose from washing machine outflow directly onto garden.
Before jumping into a warm shower, we put a bucket under the shower to collect the cold water and then use it to water plants, vegetable and fruit trees.
I catch the cold water from the shower (while the water warms up) and use it to refresh the dog bowls each day. Yesterday’s dog water is poured onto the pots or veggie garden.
Another tip is not to flush the loo after dark (well, only you can if you really have to) first one up in the morning flushed away the night time wees.
Puncture a hole in the lid of a bottle of vinegar and place bottle in toilet tank. Not only will each toilet flush use less water (due to the volume of water displaced by the bottle) but each flush will contain a dilute amount of vinegar that cleans the toilet.
That’s brilliant! The problem with not flushing overnight is the bowl gets grotty quickly and I refuse to use those nasty coloured things that hang off the rim!
I don’t have dogs, but I’ve heard that the cool thing with using vinegar in the toilet is it doesn’t harm your dogs (if you have dogs that like drinking out of the toilet, as many people do).
We think it’s brilliant too. That’s why you’ve won an Oxijet Maryam! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Install a bio cycle pump and recycle all your gray water
Actually, now that I think of it, I really, really need one of these shower heads – with two pre-teens in the house and hormones flying around, the showers are getting longer and longer and more frequent. We already use a timer, but adding a water saving shower head would really reduce the water use.
If you have two taps in your shower or sink, get in the habit of fine tuning the temperature by turning the cold down to make the water hotter and the hot down to make it colder. A small saving, but at no extra effort.
If you are older and just sit about not getting dirty, shower 3 times a week once a day and “duck-wash” in between. Saves water from 11 showers goinging down the drain and tip the “duck wash” from the basin around the plants.
We’re big hand-washers in our household, after somehow scoring a son who’s fastidious about cleanliness and washes his hands between almost every task. Rather than letting him run the water down the sink every time, I put a small tub of water by the kitchen sink and in the bathroom, add a capful of disinfectant, and he rinses there. Even changing the water in the tub a few times a day, we still use less water than if he was constantly running the tap.
Show your kids how to water the garden/ plants with a hose sprayer on your sprinkler days. They have great fun, you use less water as it’s a targeted approach and you’re educating them at the same time on water efficiency and the need to conserve.
We like your thinking Sean. You’ve won an Oxijet and we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
we have simply put a garden hose in the bath out through the window with a pump attached to water the garden
Using the washing machine water to scrub down outside concrete areas
Take one dog (preferably yours!) and hose with trigger nozzle. Wash dog with environmentally friendly detergent, spray rinse, then let dog loose in the fernery — result, 1 clean dog, along with very well moistened ferns!
Shower at work or in recreation centres. The numbers on your bill at home will be lowered, but you’ll still be clean thanks to creative counting!
Hose your children off outside instead of showering on hot days!
turn the shower off when soaping yourself, get a good lather all over, and then rinse it all off!
We installed a drip irrigation system in our garden. The water only goes where it is needed and it has markedly cut our water use (and wastage).
With three kids at home two of them teenagers and on tank water with only 83mm of rainfall over the last four months the tank went dry. $120.00 for 10,000 liters I will try anything. This has included putting a three minute timer in the shower to raise awareness of the time spent, it has had limited success, tried banning on the door when the time was up, this only raise my stress level, tried lowering the water supply temperature from the gas hot water unit to 42 C this had the desired effect the water was only just warm and they didn’t like to stand under the shower for to long.
I have replaced a large lawn area (which needed lots of water) with native flowering plants, it was surprisingly easy to locate plants which flowered at different times of the year and which are naturally hardy and drought resistant. I now use much, much less water and have the bonus of flowers all year round in the garden. This not only looks good, but it has attracted a host of bird life to my garden who either feed on the nectar or the insects who do.
Bet the birds love it Steve. You’ve won an Oxijet and we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Shower with beer.
Simply easy and resourceful – In Brisbane where it can be very dry at times, the catching of overspray from your daily shower with a long elongated bucket , can provide up to 63 litres of water a week per person to distribute around the yard or for cleaning cars, pavers, concrete paths etc.
Adopt a dog and encourage it to lick your face in the morning – benefits: you get an inexpensive facial exfoliation, increase your general health (health and well-being benefits of canine company proven in many studies) AND save water used for face washing. Tripple win!!!!
My family uses water from their rainwater tanks for their toilets and they save water by following the principle of “if its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down”
Instead of a veggie garden and seperate freshwater fish tank that both use lots of water, consider combining the two in an aquaponics system where the water constantly flows between the fish and the plants without the need to add additional water! Best thing is you can raise yummy trout or yabbies to go with your veggies and herbs for dinner.
All credit to my mother for this one…tip any leftover ice cubes from your gin and tonic onto the garden…
An excellent (and delicious) tip! You’ve won an Oxijet Janelle. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Don’t buy an instantaneous (& continuous) hot water supply if you have teenagers, what you save in energy quickly goes in water used! Although you can always turn the power off mid-shower for a guaranteed reaction in a Canberra winter.
Never water the lawn – it’ll come back fine when the rain is there..
We put our worm bin in a place sure to catch a lot of rainwater. We drain the water after each rain, mix it with the tap water we’ve used to wash our veggies, and use the nutrient rich mixture to water the garden again. It saves water and creates a home-made fertiliser. The plants and worms love it!
Congrats Erin, you’ve won an Oxijet! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
I’ve been through some severe droughts and long-lasting restrictions on water usage, down to washing out of a bucket of water (forget baths, showers and washing machines) and then watering a plant in the garden with it. This is a great invention that once fully publicised should make a big difference to households and the water authorities who have to ‘budget’ water usage on a yearly basis. Well done Jie Wu and Felton
Aside from emptying school water bottles on plants, we also empty clean drinking water left over from meals into our dog’s water dish and drink bottle. Whenever possible, I do not empty water glasses and bottles in the sink– always on plants or, if still drinkable, in the dog dish. Both dog and plants end up happy as well!
I have 6 kids and one on the way and according to my wife I’m a husband that loves dirt and grime , my water saving tip is to ask for a Oxijet shower nozzle from the wonderful people of the CSIRO. Our fruit trees recieve the grey water from our home.
Sounds like you need one Matthew! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
When I wash my car (once in a blue moon), I always park it on the lawn so that the run-off waters my grass.
Wash your dishes in a bucket in the sink and water plants this can be done with the shower and washing machine and you’ll never have to use the tap to water anything again! Just remember to use enviro friendly detergents!
We were running low on tank water during a prolonged drought and decided to have a competition between the kids and used a timer to see who could have the quickest shower. It worked well but my two competitive sons took it to extremes, one declaring he was so keen to beat his brother he was getting in the shower in winter before the hot water came through! Now a few years later they are teenagers and we survive on rain water tanks so one of these amazing shower heads would be an awesome help!
Sounds like a great idea Kim. You’ve won an Oxijet and we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Instead of washing the car with buckets of water and detergent just leave it out on a dewy night. The condensation will lift the dirt over night so you just need to use a watering can to give it a quick rinse it in the morning before the dew dries.
I hate washing my car, so love this tip. Congrats Chris, you’ve won an Oxijet! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Going to repeat one many other have said. Have a couple (or even three) buckets in the shower to catch water whilst you are showering. Can then be used to water plants (indoors, pot-plants, outdoor plants, etc).
Shower with Mrs Watson…see http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/06/11/1086749899992.html?from=storyrhs
Wash the dog in the same bath water as the kids (usually after the kids get out!).
we have defied everyones hints to fill our backyard with lawn. instead we have a ‘native scrub’ landscape which receives no walering at all.
Our old house has looong pipes to the bathroom. We save the first run of cold water in a bucket while waiting for the water to heat up, then use the water for plants, dog bowls or rinsing.
Use a water bottle rather than a glass to sip on water. That way if you don’t finish the glass you can come back for it later and you don’t have to tip it out if any bugs have landed in it.
I love having a single-lever mixer tap in the shower – it means I can hop in, wet myself down, turn the water off while I soap myself up and shampoo my hair, then turn the water back on to rinse. The advantage of the mixer tap is that you don’t have trouble turning it on with soapy hands, and the hot-to-cold ratio doesn’t change so you don’t spend a minute trying to balance the two (which can be unpleasant in winter).
We have placed a “bird bath” on our deck, water from rinsing vegetables and fruit and otherwise clean water is used to fill the bath. Access water is gravity fed through some plastic bottle water features leading to a salvaged baby bathtub. This slows the water flow and releases water into a trench/swale that runs under a compost pile and also directs the water to our vegetable garden.
I live in South Africa and my house has two old toilets, sadly not duel flush system. Every flush is four liters of potable water per toilet ! Take a clean brick and place it inside the flush system which then reduces the volume of water, thus saving water with every flush,maintenace free and adding value to the environment by saving H2O !
Reduce shower time by installing dispensers for shampoo, conditioner and shower gel in your shower recess – less time fiddling with bottles and caps really makes shower time shorter therefore using less water.
Very practical Judy. You’ve won an Oxijet and we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
When watering my large vegetable garden I water at night with a soaker hose to get to the roots. I leave on for an hour or more. I find this I only need to water twice a week in a hot summer – less in winter. I encourage my friends to do the sane
Living out of town and relying on rainfall for our water supply we have tried explaining to our two teenage boys that our water is precious, tried timers, and even shouting for them to get out I have found the real shower stopper is flicking the water pump off. Some may say that’s hard but hey it works a treat.
If you can source, one the old style twin tub washing machine that allows you to re-use the water; (you pump to a tub & then suck it back); and has a spin cycle that is close to centrifuge grade saves a lot of water and means clothes will dry quickly even if hung inside. Downside is that you do need to “supervise” it and not for those with bad backs. (I have my mum’s old Hitachi that must be >20 years old)
Many people are concerned about the waste of water in ‘cleaning’ pools. My solution is that the ‘waste’ outlet on the filter pump is directed down a hose that can either a) be applied to a water tank to capture the water for later use on garden or b) can be connected to irrigation pipes for immediate use or c) can be fed back through a filter and returned to the pool. All three options are highly water saving options.
Good tips for pool owners Natalia. You’ve won an Oxijet and we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Use tissues, not paper towel, to soak up any grease and wipe out your non-stick pans – no washing up and well seasoned pans
Have an egg timer (waterproof) for your kids shower time – my kids are hard to get in the shower and harder still to get out! When the timer goes off I turn the tap to cold – this results in a quick exit!
When planting new plants I bury a tin with a hole in the bottom to release water slowly to the plant roots next to the plant. The bigger the plant the bigger the tin. Less evaporation releasing the water below the ground surface.The tin eventually rusts away when the plant is established.
Very clever. Congratulations, you’ve won an Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
We always have half empty water bottles after a day out or when going on family excursions. The left overs are put on the herbs on the window sill or into the kettle to be re-used
Use a bucket to collect water from the pool when it is above minimum. This water is used to flush the toilet.
I shower my 3 kids together one lathering, one shampooing and one conditioning
Being on tank water we know every drop counts!
Set up a shower timer and introduce the family to it. Yell loudly over the noise of flowing water when it gets ignored! There are many ways to effect sustainability behaviour change.
While showering, we collect the water in a large plastic tub (you stand in) then keep this water to use in the toilet. You just open the toilet lid and tip it in. Usually have far too much for just the toilet so some goes on the garden too! Dont keep it too long or the water starts to smell..
Give the pot plants a drink with the water left over in the kids water bottles.
All the water that goes down the drain while you’re waiting for the hot water to arrive (especially in existing buildings that don’t have a gas service to utilise instantaneous heaters close each tap) – how to stop or reduce this waste? I don’t know of a solution at this stage but it would be a great water saver.
Have a swim in the dam here on the farm!
Don’t drink expensive bottled water, or run up your own water bills – drink wine instead (Australian of course).
Use compost in your garden as much as possible and set up a drip sytem to irrigate directly where the roots require it, preferably near their roots to encourage deep roots. The mulch combined with deep roots will insure your plants against dry spells.
Sink and laundry waste water diverted to a grey water system where the water is cleaned by a system of ponds with reeds and other native grasses growing in them. The water is then collected to be pumped into a water tank which is plumbed in for use when flushing the toilet.
Water Timers on Taps
Shower once every 3 days, saves 66,6% water and is a lot better for your skin and immune system. And oh, yes you could just wash some bits and pieces the other 2 days, thank you very much.
Instead of watering hanging baskets with the hose and watching all the water drain straight through and on to the ground, place ice blocks in them that will slowly melt and water the plants.
We save water at home by using open-source monitor and control software released by CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science to read the evaporation and rainfall from a weather station and automatically control pop-up sprinkers so that the lawn is watered only when required rather than by a timer. This system also looks at wind speed so the sprinklers won’t activate if there will be too much advective water loss and temperature so that it won’t water on frosty mornings. Also, opur current shower head is a real water guzzler and I’d love one of these fancy ones
Gotta love CSIRO technology
Congrats David, you’ve won an Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Plant fruit trees next to the leech drain. They need no extra watering needed during dry WA summer months and give lush shade as a bonus.
Put a plastic seat in the shower. Once you’re wet – turn off the shower, then enjoy soaping and scrubbing yourself while seated and concentrating on the wash, rather than balancing on one leg! Also, this stops the soap from running off your body into the shower. Finally, a quick rinse at the end is all that’s needed.
Tier your hanging plants vertically so that the water that drains out of one rains down on the other. By cleverly arranging your plants so that the most thirsty are on top you can ensure sufficient moisture for your plants, and if you are using grey water it’ll go further. Plus it looks amazing.
Sounds efficient (not to mention very pretty). You’ve won an Oxijet Fiach! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
When running the kitchen hot tap to get hot water, fill a bottle with the initial cold water and put it in the fridge, so you have a supply of iced water and no wasted water running down the sink.
There is usually a few litres of cold water in hot water pipes that needs to be drained before you get any hot water out for washing dishes, etc. I divert this water to my sink top water filter and fill a couple of glasses (which I drink straight away) and a couple of water bottles (for later).
Also a good way to make myself drink more water.
Introduce indigenous species to your garden that are drought tolerant.
Have a small tank for hot water! This limits shower time or the next person, such as the boyfriend, gets very cold showers.
Wait until you have a full-load of dirty clothes before doing your washing!
same goes for dishes
Wash your fruit and veggies in a pot or pan of water instead of running them under the tap, then use the water on the garden
My water saving tip is
We leave a couple of buckets in the shower. When you first turn on the shower thee water is cold and usually runs down the drain. We put the buckets under and fill them up. Then we empty the buckets on the garden.
When bathing dogs, use a bucket or small amount of water in a bath (and re-use for multiple dogs) instead of leaving a hose running. Or make sure you have a hose that has a trigger that stops water spray when not being used
Step 1. Collect waste water from washing hands in laundry tub with a bucket.
Step 2. Soak or dunk pot plants in bucket for a few minutes so that the soil absorbs the water.
Step 3. Lift pot and place empty pot upside down in the bucket under the pot so that water drains back into the bucket.
Step 4. Repeat from step 2 with other potted plants.
Watering like this means the soil absorbs more moisture and watering can be done less often.
Soak clothes with detergent in a basin for half an hour or longer. Then only put the soaked clothes into washing machine, do NOT pour the water with detergent into the machine. By this way, you can use “water efficient” function or reduce the time of rinsing to save water.
My sons water saving tip is to shower at the beach. He surfs every day. Gets out of the surf. Washes off in the council showers. Saves water for us and washing of bath towels. Saves water for us don’t know if it counts using council water 😊
How about not having your own pool
Cool off down at the beach or at your local pool instead. And if you have kids this can be a great way to encourage body confidence and awareness too, realising that there are many different shapes, sizes and colours in the world.
In summer, instead of turning on the aircon or having heaps of showers, half-fill the bathtub with cold water. It stays quite cold (in the southern states at least) and you can lie in it, cool down, then get out – because you’re not soaping off it doesn’t get dirty for a few days, so it’s like having a one-person swimming pool in your bathtub!
Note that household cats, who are accustomed to the tub being empty, may also become unexpectedly cooled down when they jump in and find it half full.
Maybe your cat will like your new Oxijet better? We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
We use an Every Drop Shower Saver – an shut-off valve that you can retrofit to any standard shower to keep the hot-cold mix waiting while legs are shaved or conditioner soaks in – it saves heaps of water when my sister is visiting us!!
For those houses with two bathrooms, use the shower closest to the hot water system – the hot water will take less time to come through (we more than fill a bucket in our ensuite while waiting for the hot water. Similarly, our cold water in the kitchen is hot on the warm days as the pipework runs through the roof so we fill drinking bottles from the laundry to avoid waiting for the water to run cold.
Water your lawn well once a week not a little evry few days. this promotes deeper roots for your grass and survival during dry conditions.
Taking our cue from water conscious farmers, we changed our suburban block to catch and hold rainwater rather than letting it run off. We’ve built mounds and swales to carefully channel water where we want it (and away from where we don’t want it). Result – a garden that thrives on a deep watering every so often and is much more drought resistant when the rains don’t come.
Great idea Ross. Congrats, you’ve won an Oxijet! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
whatever happened to instantaneous gas hot water systems? no reservoir of hot water to constantly maintain, with its increased rate of evaporation 24/7 (you know, the pressure-release tap on the side of the tank). saves gas as well as water!
the quality/reliability problems sometimes associated with older instantaneous systems must surely be conquerable by today’s production processes.
Replace lawn with locally indigenous plant varieties which not only after establishment do not require additional watering but also encourage birds, insects and other natural life.
Turn of shower after wetting body. Soap and rinse.
Do not use hose for washing cars – a bucket is entirely sufficient most often.
Raise awareness to reduce unnecessary and excessive watering and hosing of paved areas.
Shower takes the highest amount of water. I keep my breakfast to cook,so that I am forced to finish my shower early before it is overcooked. Use low flow showers. And turn off shower while applying soap. Use low flow taps everywhere in house.
We run the shower, waiting for the hot water, into a bucket and use that to water our plants. The same for the washing up water. The washing machine water goes onto the grass (2nd rinse only). We can sometimes use the shower bucket water to wash away number 1s in the loo. Our loos are connected to our tank water though.
Wash your hair every 2 to 3 days – saves lots of water and your scalp will be less dry!
Pee in a container, use that on your citrus fruit and no unecessary flushing of the loo
When growing seedlings, use a mister to water them instead of a watering can – saves water and shocks them less.
When I do a fortnightly 1/5 water change of my freshwater fish tank water, I use the water taken out, full of yummy nutrients, to water my pot plants. I also put water left over from my daily water bottle into my kettle ready for a refreshing boil in time for evening cuppa.
My foster father was reputed to be the only person who could have a shower and not get wet. Not true but he grew up in the country on tank water and continued to act as though he needed to conserve water when he moved to the city. I do the same but still get a little bit wet. I like the idea of using starchy water as a weed killer – you learn something new every day. I will be limited only to potato water as I use the Chinese method of cooking rice, whic absorbs all the water.
Manning C R and Kirkman H “Irrigation of eucalypt plantations on deep sands using sewage effluent: A proposed alternative to ocean disposal near Perth, Western Australia.” Australian Forestry 1993, 56 (1) 80-89. This has the potential to make waste water useful rather than a threat to the delicate oligtrophic waters of temperate Australia. Over 400Ml/day of nutrient rich waste water are discharged to Perth’s metropolitan coast.
Reduce, reuse, recycle.. all of the above… best advice is awareness. Be aware and conciencious. From here all changes will happen
When rinsing or washing bowls, pots, containers etc. don’t use a continuous running stream of water, but rather part fill them with water, stop the flow and scrub!
When rinsing/washing bowls, pots, containers etc., don’t use a continuous stream of running water, but rather part fill the item with water, stop the flow and then scrub!
Turn off the water while you wash your hair, turn off tap while brushing teeth.
Put a hose onto the washing machine outlet and re-cycle the water on the garden.
Shower with a bucket, fill recycled plastic milk bottles with the recycled water, put a hole using a nail in the top and bottom of each milk bottle and stand next to a plant to drip-water it.
Wash clothes once a week. The save waste water for grass and plants.
Shower in the garden with a hose where you grow your watermelons and cucumbers – they can use the water after you to get them nice and ripe
Save water – drink beer!
Our house is on tank water only, so to save that precious drinking quality water we’ve installed a third tap in the laundry – now the dishwasher and washing machine use bore water – leaving us with more drinking quality tank water to last through dry summers.
When saving water from the washing machine, ensure that the outlet hose is safely IN the tub, and not over the side. If hose is over the side and this is found out after the house has flooded, use water as an excuse to clean out overcrowded laundry and wash floors that haven’t seen daylight in decades…
The most simple steps make the most difference: Turn off the tap when cleaning your teeth; collect cold shower water in a bucket and use for watering; save water from cooking vegetables to make stock or water the garden; only fill up the kettle for the amount of water you need to boil; steam veggies in small amounts of water rather than a whole pot; Water the garden in the early morning before it is hot.
None of these impact on your quality of life – all of them make tiny difference that adds up to a lot
Put a house brick in the toilet water reservoir, to cut down the amount of water used per flush. A lot of people don’t differentiate/use the dual flush system – this forces less water to be used per flush and a little inconvenience (in wait time) if you want to flush a second time and use more water.
Make a single plant mini irrigation system by inserting a dripper into the side of a 4L cooking oil tin near the base. Fill the can with water and place by the plant that you want to drip irrigate. This has the benefits of precision irrigation as you know exactly how much water you are providing (4L in this case), where it is being directed and minimal run off.
Have a cold shower- works every time:)
To save flushing the toilet, my husband always goes outside to the lemon tree! And the lemon tree is thriving!!!
When I was a kid growing up in Perth we were always on water restrictions, so we turned our rockery into a little hydroponics experiment and pored our shower water in at the top. Apart from the cats thinking this was a toy designed for them…. we grew some lovely lettuce and flowers.
Put in a water tank and water the garden from that. We also connected our toilet, washing machine and laundry to it. Even during the long drought we only emptied the tank once. Also, run agricultural pipe through the garden next to your trees and connect the end to your gutters — first flush diverter or overflow from tank runs through the pip providing underground watering for your trees.
When I rinse out my milk bottles for recycling, instead of pouring the rinse straight down the sink, I water my pot plants!
In our house, our favorite water-saving solutions are engineering solutions, as they are usually more reliable than behavioral ones. We also prefer solutions that are popular, because we realize that our household impact is minimal on a global scale. So, we’ve installed a switchable system that takes waste water and pipes it through ag pipe onto our lawns and gardens. When we have plenty of rain, we switch it off, allowing the rainfall to dilute the nutrients from the waste water. We’ve also installed moderately economical shower heads.
However, for our family to have the biggest impact, I suggest that news@csiro send me an Oxijet shower head. and I offer it to families within our Scout Group on a short-term trial basis. When word has gotten around sufficiently, we can install it in the shower at the Scout Hall, and include an A4-sized fact sheet in the entrance of the hall indicating that the Hall is fitted with a shiny-new Oxijet shower head (using CSIRO technology), and extolling the environmental and comfort virtues of the device. I’m thinking of a sheet along the lines of the fact sheets that sit alongside the Dyson Airblade hand-driers and water-less urinals in CSIRO. In this way, we can perhaps have a very large impact on our community’s water useage.
love this it will get the future generation thinking of engineering solutions.
We like your thinking Darren. You’ve won an Oxijet to share with your Scout Group. We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Our house is quite old, and has no engineering solutions. Instead to save water, we share bath water with the kids, yes even on those days where we are all sandy or dirty from playing outside. Another water saving tip (also prevents waking others up in the house through the night), which may sound a bit gross, is to not flush the toilet during the night, which saves at least 3-4 flushes every day! Outside, when it rains, we collect water from drip points off the house and use it days later to water the plants.
When mowing the lawn in summer, leaving it longer helps keep the soil from drying out, so you can water more infrequently.
When we go camping, we fill 2L bottles with water which we freeze and use to keep our food cold; each day a bottle is removed from the eski and provides drinking water! Two for the price of one.
Sodium Poly-acrylate (or “water-saving crystals”, as it is more commonly known) can save HEAPS of water when mixed into you garden bed or pot plant soil. It can be bought in a supermarket and can absorb up to 600 times its own mass in water.
When it rains or you water your garden, most of the water seeps down to the water table and only a small amount goes towards your plants. With “water crystals” in the soil, they absorb this excess and hold it until the plant needs more water and slowly releases it over time.
In the long run, you will save both water and money.
I get annoyed seeing dripping taps in public and government toilet facilities. Encouraging councils and public service agencies to upgrade the plumbing in these facilities will save more water than i would waste. Using an oxijet showerhead will mean that I’ll feel better with my slightly longer shower though and feeling good about your contribution is important.
As 4 minute showers is recommended in our home. I give my kids a 2 minute warning, then a 3 minute warning and one final warning before the hot water is switched off. Works every time.
After cooking pasta or noodle, never pour the hot water straight into the sink. Instead using it for dishwashing.
Collect washing machine water in a wheelie bin and take to trees / shrubs of choice. Syphon out using drip hose to maximise efficient irrigation.
Collect the water that drains from a defrosting freezer.
Use that water in your steam iron. It is de-ionised water so won’t cause limescale build-up in your iron.
Bathe children in two inches (5cm) of water in a laundry tub. It worked well for the five of us.
The water saving tip from all 10 year old boys is only to shower weekly! Reasoning – “Mum, I’m not that filthy.”
Seems reasonable
You’ve won an Oxijet Josephine! We’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Install a plastic sheet over your entire house, garden, pool to collect all moisture that would otherwise be lost to evaporation
And don’t forget to put some breathing holes in…..
Dispense with having to wash pots and pans by only eating what you can cook on the bbq
i put a 2 litre bottle of coke, filled with sand in the cistern, and use half button flush, which reduces water usage.
We are renting a 2 storey duplex with the upstairs bathroom having the old shower-over-the-bath set up. The bathroom window is conveniently located directly above out freshly planted ‘no-dig’ garden (which happen to retain a significently higher amount of water than traditional ‘dug ‘ gardens). Put the plug in the bath when showering, and afterwards run an old hose from the tub, out the window and let gravity water the garden! Perfect timing for watering in the evenings to reduce evaporation
Little signs near every tap, shower and toilet provide constant reminders to children and spouses (spice?) alike. Our water is precious and finite. Please think of the Murray!
Encourage the egg-timer game. Can you finish your shower before the egg-timer runs out?!
Great idea Rachel! You’ve won an Oxijet and we’ll be emailing you shortly to let you know how to claim your prize.
Recycling grey water is something everone should be thinking about. I’ve got some conventional bath-tubs installed and dug into my back yard within which I’ve planted a number of species of sedges and rushes which help filter chemicals and result in cleaner water on the lowest ‘pond’ or bath…just run a hose from the bottom pond and your ready for use on the veggie garden!
Have a bucket of water on standby during the day. Wee into it over the course of the day. Then at night pour the diluted mixture around fruit trees. Urine is high in nitrogen, so the trees get fertilized while huge amounts of water are saved from not using the flush toilet.
Cook on the BBQ then eat straight from it – no pots and pans and no plates to wash up! Or try cooking meals that don’t require many plates like a sausage sanga yum
There are some great tips in here. You guys sure know your stuff
We’ll be picking our water-wise winners this afternoon. Fingers crossed there’s an Oxijet coming your way!
We all shower one after another so that hot water is not left to cool in the pipes then it does not have to be run through again before you get the water warm enough for the next shower. With four people in the house it can save many litres of water a day and saves on heating eneergy as well.
Do your morning pee-pee in the shower: Saves on the flush
Haha thats feral lol.
We’ve been inundated with excellent tips (not to mention a few that made us giggle).
Congrats to clemensgascoigne, Alan Harman, Sue McIntyre, Steve Dalby, R Sackville and Darren who contributed some of our favourites (re-posted below). We also liked the responses from H Hoffman, Dave Sadler, Mark Wilson, Kimberly T, Richard Vickers, Louis B, Geoffrey Adams, Michael McDermott, Scott Sandercock, A Neale, Kaylene Pickering, Rebecca Thorpe, Andy, Leon Smith, Ally, Maryam Ahmad, Sean Webb, Janelle, Erin Peterson, Matthew Toby, Kim Deans, Chris Lewis, Judy, Natalia Wade, David, Fiach Smyth, Sian, Ross Parkes, Josephine Chow and Rachel Brdanovic
Congrats to each of you, you’ve won your very own Oxijet. We’ll be emailing you shortly, to let you know how to claim your prize.
Clemensgascoigne
Put on a Eurovision song* which has a duration of 3mins. When the song finishes, so does the shower.
*NB – It doesn’t *have* to be a Eurovision song (I’m just a huge fan). It just has to be a song of less than 4mins in duration so that you’re having a nice short shower.
Alan Harman
Always drink the Jameson’s straight. This saves oodles of water over a cold Queanbeyan winter.
Sue McIntyre
Give your greasy dishes to the dog to lick clean and save loads of hot water in the rinsing stage.
PS don’t forget give the dishes a good scrub before re-using – just use less water
PPS I was horrified when a friend demonstrated this to me once, but now I have a dog I can see the efficacy of the approach
PPPS … though it is probably still recommended not to do this in front of visitors
Steve Dalby
I have replaced a large lawn area (which needed lots of water) with native flowering plants, it was surprisingly easy to locate plants which flowered at different times of the year and which are naturally hardy and drought resistant. I now use much, much less water and have the bonus of flowers all year round in the garden. This not only looks good, but it has attracted a host of bird life to my garden who either feed on the nectar or the insects who do.
R Sackville
When planting new plants I bury a tin with a hole in the bottom to release water slowly to the plant roots next to the plant. The bigger the plant the bigger the tin. Less evaporation releasing the water below the ground surface.The tin eventually rusts away when the plant is established.
Darren
In our house, our favorite water-saving solutions are engineering solutions, as they are usually more reliable than behavioral ones. We also prefer solutions that are popular, because we realize that our household impact is minimal on a global scale. So, we’ve installed a switchable system that takes waste water and pipes it through ag pipe onto our lawns and gardens. When we have plenty of rain, we switch it off, allowing the rainfall to dilute the nutrients from the waste water. We’ve also installed moderately economical shower heads.
However, for our family to have the biggest impact, I suggest that news@csiro send me an Oxijet shower head. and I offer it to families within our Scout Group on a short-term trial basis. When word has gotten around sufficiently, we can install it in the shower at the Scout Hall, and include an A4-sized fact sheet in the entrance of the hall indicating that the Hall is fitted with a shiny-new Oxijet shower head (using CSIRO technology), and extolling the environmental and comfort virtues of the device. I’m thinking of a sheet along the lines of the fact sheets that sit alongside the Dyson Airblade hand-driers and water-less urinals in CSIRO. In this way, we can perhaps have a very large impact on our community’s water useage.
CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE.
WELL DONE.
We’ve done a good job in getting our kids to take large water bottles with them when they’re out and about, but the downside is a constant clutter of half-empty water bottles on the kitchen bench (where they’re dumped when kids get home). So, instead of pouring the water down the sink, it is used to water all the indoor and potted plants.
If you missed out on an Oxijet and want to purchase one you can view a list of Australian distributors here: http://www.nekeema.com.au/oxijet.html. If there’s not a stockist in your area yet, you can contact sales@nekeema.com.au
Here in Perth, Western Australia we have a dry mediterranean climate that is getting drier and more unpredictable. We also have sandy, nutrient-poor, water repellant soils that don’t retain moisture and can easily leach fertilisers. However, most of household water is still used on home gardens, so there has been a strong focus here on reducing water consumption through the adoption of “waterwise” practices. To keep exotic plants like vegetables and fruit trees healthy while also ensuring lower household water consumption, the use of clay and silts as soil additives is now becoming popular. This aids water retention and better utilisation of avaiable nutrients by plants. Adding organic matter and a good mulch on top is the icing on the cake that ensures better water usage while delivering excellent gardening results from gutless sand. If you install subsoil irrigation systems like I have had, you also ensure that no water is lost through evaporation and the scarce water used is targeted to the root zone. No wastage but maximum benefit from a scarce resource!
Hi there,
We have a herb garden straight out side our kitchen, and the dishwasher “waste” is plumbed to go direct to a bucket at the herb garden. We catch the warm water in the bucket and use on the the next morning when it is cool.
The dishwasher is mor efficient than hand washing and we have solar for the electrical contribution
We are enjoying reading every ones ideas and implementing some as renovations progress
Think about planting a vertical garden and install a drip sytem to the top row of plants, this will dribble down and keep the lower levels damp.
Showers consume a lot of water. The water after shower is usually clean enough for watering plants and has no pathogens. Lawns need s a lot of water…so the water from shower can have a separate drain and a small tank for storage. The shower water can be used for lawn/ garden or groundwater recharge. This is much better than using tertiary treated sewage for lawns.