What households can do

You can take steps to be more water efficient:

• Take an audit or quiz to learn more about water efficiency at home
• Buy whitegoods with a high water efficiency rating 
• Use water saving tips to reduce daily water consumption.

Showers

• Take a 4 minute shower
• Install a water-efficient showerhead — a standard showerhead uses about 15 litres of water per minute. A water efficient showerhead can use as little as 7 litres per minute.

Dishwashers

• Avoid washing unless you have a full load.
• Use a water efficient dishwasher — they use half the water of average models.

Gardens

• Water the garden only when necessary — not if the soil below the surface is still damp.
• Fewer, deeper waterings for your garden encourage deeper root systems and more robust plants.
• Plant waterwise plants and mulch well.
• Use a compost bin. Compost improves soil quality and water penetration.

Pools

• Cover pools — in-ground pools can lose up to 200 litres of water per day. In South East Queensland up to 12 million litres of water per day is lost through evaporation off pool surfaces.
• Check pools for leaks.

Taps

• Install low-flow aerating taps. Water use can be reduced from about 18 litres per minute for a traditional tap to as little as 2 litres per minute for a low-flow aerating tap.
• Turn off the tap when the water isn’t needed when brushing teeth, shaving, rinsing vegetables, cleaning the sinks etc,
• Fix dripping taps and leaking pipes — fixing a leaking tap can save up to 200 litres a day.

Toilets

• Use a dual flush toilet. A water-efficient dual flush cistern uses less than four litres of water per flush, and can reduce household water use by approximately 1,000 litres per household per year.

Washing machines

Buy a water efficient washing machine — inefficient machines can use up to 60 per cent more water, 50 per cent more detergent and 40 per cent more electricity than water efficient machines.