Greywater Recycling

We have always discussed how vital a resource water is and how our survival depends on it. It’s as simple as that, if there’s no water, we will cease to exist. And not only us, but all forms of life would cease to exist.

Recent times have seen water cuts and water shortage being experienced the world over, water conservation is the need of the hour and we need to act fast in order to save the one element we cannot survive without. However, even in this timely hour, there are people who do not understand the seriousness of the matter and do as they please.

One technique each one of us should adopt is greywater recycling. Greywater is basically all the waste water in our household, collected from washbasins, showers, bathtubs and washing machines. Normally we would just discard this water on account of it being dirty and already used. However, we can recycle and reuse this water and use it to cater to other needs such as watering your lawn/garden or using it to flush the toilet. 

There are just a few things to be kept in mind before you start using greywater for other needs. Firstly you must ensure they are no toxins or corrosive substances that could damage your plants when used to water them. Also if the water you use to wash dishes is untreated, it might contain substances like grease and which would make it unfit to be used as greywater. Also keep in mind that water with excessive salt is also potentially damaging to plants and hence should not be used. This is almost all you need to know about greywater, so from now onwards instead of throwing your used water away, put it to some good use.

Household Water Conservation Tips

In our previous post, we discussed how important a commodity water is, and how we need to do everything in our power to conserve water. There’s no denying the importance of water and yet we waste large volumes of it every single day. The abundance of water has led to us misusing it and hence, we find ourselves in this situation, where our most vital resource for survival is rapidly depleting.

The task of water conservation is something each one of us has to do, just because your neighbour doesn't do it, doesn't mean you don’t. It must be a joint effort made by each one of us, wherein, the tiny amount of water saved by each of us adds to a significantly large amount. Let’s have a look at some very simple ways in which we can save water in our homes.

Install low-flow showerheads: Installing a low flow shower and tap is the simplest way of conserving water. Using these fittings in your bathroom and kitchen would bring down your overall water consumption by almost 50%. Also, try and cut down your shower by a few minutes, this would save around 550 liters of water every month. 

Convert your toilet into a dual flush: A dual flush is a variation of the flush toilet which consists of two different buttons which release different amounts of water. This will avoid a lot of water wastage.

Do not thaw frozen foods under flowing water as this leads to a lot of wastage, instead try and use the defrost setting on your microwave or leave it in your fridge overnight.

Always check your faucets: Leaky faucets are a major cause for water wastage. If a faucet drips at one drop per second, you would waste around 9,000 of water a year. This would also strain your septic tank and sewer utilities. All this can be avoided very easily by checking your faucets from time to time.

Do not ever throw used water down the drain as it could be used for a bunch of other purposes such as watering the plants or garden.

Get all your water pipes insulated, this will help you help you get hot water instantly and avoid you wasting water while letting it heat up.

Apart from helping conserve water, these tips will help you reduce your water utility bill, reduce water pollution in nearby lakes and rivers and largely extend the life of your septic tank. We would strongly urge you to follow these tips in order to do your part in saving our most vital resource, water.

Water conservation & other facts

Water is used in almost every sector and industry in some form or the other, not to mention, everyday, to perform our most vital needs. To add to all of this, we take, having an endless amount of water for granted and have been doing this for years. This has led to us abusing the abundance of water and hence now we are facing water shortage, the world over. With grave problems such as global warming lurking over our head, we need to pool together and conserve and save as much water as we can. This is the only way we can ensure clean drinking water for the generations ahead. If we do not mend our ways and keep taking this luxury for granted, our future generations will suffer and in all probability, not be able to survive.

Water conservation is the need of the hour and if we do not act fast it maybe too late. Due to years of us abusing the abundance of water, we are, for the first time facing a lack of the amount of clean drinkable water. This wasn’t even considered a possibility a few decades ago.

Lets take a look at a few facts in context to water, which should help you realize the importance of water conservation. Lets take a look at the global breakdown of fresh water: 97.5% of water is in the oceans and this accounts for salt water, 2.24% of water in the world is inaccessible as it is found in the polar icecaps and glaciers. Accessible fresh water from rivers and lakes make up for only 0.26% of the water stock the world over. This very simply means for every 100 liters of water available, only 3/4^th of a tablespoon is fresh drinkable water. Quite surprising isn’t it?

Even daily activities like brushing and showering waste more water then you can imagine. Did you know that when you leave the tap running for 5 whole minutes while brushing you waste 45 liters of water? If you instead use a mug of water, it would save 44.5 liters of water. Imagine how much water that would save over a period of time. Also while you’re soaping up and leaving your shower on while doing so, 90 liters of water are wasted. If you switched off your shower for tat time period instead, you would save approximately 70 liters of water. Things like watering your plans, or washing your car using a hose pipe waste even more water.

These are things we do on a daily basis, which waste so much water. If we all just make a few changes, and turn off the tap every time we do not need it, it would make all the difference in the world. Only by making these small initial changes can we slowly help in doing our part to conserve water.  

Water saving tips for industries- Part II

In the previous article we looked at a few ways in which, starting a water conservation program could help save water in a industry/factory. Now lets take a look at a few other steps that we could take to ensure water conservation in an industry.

1.      You must first survey your facility and identify the major water source points. This would help you in knowing the key areas of your facility, which provide you with the much-needed water.

2.      Try and build a hematic of all the various water source points along with the entry and usage points. You must know where your water comes from and what exactky it is used for.

3.      Keep a daily chart in which you note down, the water consumption in your industry. This will help you figure the daily water consumption and also you will always know if there ever is a large amount of water that is unnecessarily wasted.

4.      You must also always monitor your facility at periodic intervals to make sure there is nothing going wrong which could result in water wastage. 

Another place where an umpteen amount of water is wasted is in the bathrooms and for other such maintenance activities. Large industries and facilities require many bathrooms depending on the number of employees in the area. There are several things that could be done to ensure less water wastage while performing such activities. A few of these tips are:

1.      You should installer-waving devices, which would ensure less water consumption, which in turn would decrease the water wastage as well.

2.      Adjust the level of flow on all the water devices in accordance to the amount of water that is required. This would make sure a lot less water is wasted.

3.      Also try and use recycled water for toilet flushing and other such low-end applications, which do not require absolutely clean drinking water.

4.      Do not wipe the floors clean with water every time they get dirty, instead sweep the floors at timely intervals.

5.      Also tell the cleaning crews to try and use as little water as they can, this would also help cut down on water wastage.

6.      Keep a check on all the water fittings and facets to ensure there are no leaks, which would cause wastage of water.

These are a few easy to follow tips to be kept in mind in your facility. These tips may sound trivial, but you have no idea how much water such small steps can save. Only by starting with such baby steps can we take larger steps in the future to curb water wastage.

Water saving tips for industries

Industries always require a large amount of water to function, irrespective of their nature. All industries consume tons of water and in turn give out gases and fumes; there are industries for literally every possible sector. Which means there are industries strewn the world over. Since industries are such a big source of water consumption there are certain things that they could do in order to save water and keep its wastage to the minimum.

Lets have a look at these few tips through the course of this article:

1.      The first and foremost thing that could be done is starting a water conservation program at your industry. This would ensure awareness of water conservation among your employees; this is the first step in the long process of water conservation.

2.      Install various signs through the area of the industry in the most prominent places, this would ensure the idea of water conservation is never forgotten amongst all the employees.

3.      Try and monitor the water usage in the various parts of the industry and bifurcate it on the basis of a water budget.

4.      Give an employee the job of monitoring the water usage of a specific area. This would make the particular employee feel a sense of responsibility towards the water wastage of that particular area.

5.      Place suggestion boxes all across the prominent areas of the industry, this would make it more interactive and you could get some brilliant suggestion from your employees. Another way of getting more out of your employees would be by setting up an initiative for the best water conservation plan/suggestion. Knowing that there is a reward at the end of it would ensure your employees try their best to come up with the most innovative ideas.

These are a few ways in which you could facilitate water conservation in your industry or factory. Try and follow these steps to start the long process of water conservation in your industry. All big tasks start with small ideas and initiatives. In the next article we shall take a look at the various other things that could be done to curb water wastage in your factory.

Water saving tips in irrigation and landscape scenarios

Did you know that every year, the amount of water that the global agricultural sector uses, takes more then 160 cubic centimeters of water out of the soil, then nature replenishes in the form of rain? And this is just one sector. In the previous articles, we have seen various ways to save water in our kitchens, bathrooms, and when doing our laundry. This time lets take a look at the various things we could do to save water in landscape and irrigation related scenarios. Any form of irrigation and landscaping requires a large amount of water; even if you’re just growing a few basic fruits or vegetables, the most important requirement to grow anything is water and sunlight. There are several ways in which we could save large amounts of water in our farms and growing patches. Let’s have a look at them:

1. We all have to water our vegetables and fruits in order to ensure they grow healthily, no plant will ever grow without the sufficient amount of water. When watering your plants try and discourage the use of hoses as they cause a lot of water wastage as you have to waste lots of water on a small patch of land. Also the constant running of the hose makes for a lot of water wastage. Instead of using hoses, try and implement sprinklers in your lawns and gardens. Sprinklers use a lot less water and also have a much larger radius to ensure all the plants get equal and sufficient water.

2. Resort to drip irrigation; this applies water at a very slow pace to the root area which requires the water most. Also, it eliminates runoff and evaporation of water.

3. Try and use recycled water whenever possible.

4. If you are growing plants just for their aesthetic appeal, choose plants which do not require a lot of water to grow. This in the long run, will save you a lot of water.

These are a few ways in which we could save water in our gardens and farms. Please keep them in mind the next time as we all need to pool together and conserve water so that our future generations do not suffer because of our foolish mistakes.

Water saving tips for your laundry

Water is the most essential element for our survival, there is no replacement or substitute for water. In recent times, water cuts and water shortage are being experienced the world over, water conservation is the need of the hour and we need to act fast in order to save the one element we cannot survive without. We require water to perform our most vital daily needs, and due to years of abusing the ample amount of water given to us, we now no longer have the guarantee of always having clean drinking water. This is why we must pool together and do our share to conserve water and drastically reduce our wastage of water. Even areas that receive a sufficient amount of rainfall are found having a shortage of water during the summer season.

In the previous article we have discussed the simplest of ways to cut down water wastage in your bathrooms and kitchens. In this article let’s take a look at the various steps we can take to save water and reduce its wastage when it comes to doing our laundry.

1. When washing you’re clothes, ensure to run the machine only once it is fully loaded (even if your machine has the setting to adjust the load). Do not run the machine whenever there are a handful of dirty clothes lying around. Doing this will help save a lot of water, as a washing machine requires the use of a large amount of water every time you use it.

2. If your washer has the option to adjust the amount of water required for each load, this will make your washer use the least amount of water required, this would ensure your clothes get washed and also you would be saving a great amount of water.

3. If any of your clothes have a tough stain, pre-treat them before washing. This would ensure the stain would go away with one wash and make sure you won’t need to rewash the same apparel to get rid of the stain.

4. Change the setting of your washer to the shortest load cycle when washing clothes which aren’t heavily dirty.

5. Also, frequently check the washer hoses and the condition of your washing machine to ensure no leaks which may result in water wastage. 

6. Also, do not unnecessarily use copious amounts of detergents when you’re washing a small amount of clothing. Use the directions as suggested by the manufacturer and use only the amount of detergent your clothes would actually need. 

Keep these basic pointers in mind when doing you’re laundry the next time around, and you will end up saving a large amount of water and playing your part in conserving our most vital element, water.