Small steps to conserve water 'worth taking'
Small changes by enough people can change the world – and the same can be said of conserving water, says policy advisor Charlie Hanna.
Charlie, who last month submitted the council’s draft water conservation and efficiency plan to councillors for approval, says the aim is to cut daily residential per capita consumption from 250 litres to 230 litres by 2018.
“The smallest changes cumulatively can have a huge impact. A single dripping tap, for example, can waste 20,000 litres of water a year. Multiply that over hundreds, or thousands, of households and the degree of wastage can be staggering.”
He says the plan suggests a range of measures to lower average household consumption. They include cleaning cars and watering gardens less often, moving to front-loading washing machines, fitting water-efficient shower-heads and taking shorter showers.
A conservation measure already in place is exempting households installing rainwater tanks from consent fees.
Charlie says conservation measures provide a buffer during droughts, which may grow in severity with climate change, as well as helping to take the pressure off the cost of supplying and treating water – one of the bigger components of the council’s annual budget.
“Population increases will also have less of an effect on consumption if we are as frugal as possible,” he says.
Another strand of the plan is to target the top 25 commercial users in the city. Studies have found that such users can cut consumption by a quarter simply by implementing a plan to reduce inefficiency and leaks.
The draft plan was approved at a full meeting of the council on July 10.