How to Save Water

Water Saving Tips

1. Install a three-star rated water efficient showerhead. (see showerhead exchange)

2. Take shorter showers.

3. Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth.

4. Install flow control valves to further reduce water use.

5. Insulate hot water pipes. This avoids wasting water while waiting for hot water to flow through.

6. When replacing your old washing machine choose one with a four-star rating.

7. Only wash when you have a full load.

8. Fix any dripping taps or leaking toilet cisterns.

10. When waiting for running water to warm up in the kitchen or bathroom collect it and put it in the fridge or use it to water the garden.

Go to the Gardening to Save Water section for information on conserving water in your garden.

For more tips go to savewater.com.au.

 

 

WaterSmart Behaviour Change Program
The WaterSmart Behaviour Change Program was a Victorian Government initiative to help people achieve their goals to reduce water use in their homes.

WaterSmart used an innovative approach to behaviour change, focusing on helping people to make changes they want to make. Through the WaterSmart Program, water businesses and government learned more about how Victorians can be supported in their efforts to use water efficiently, meeting the challenges of a growing population and changing climate.

Around 100,000 households in Melbourne and 10,000 from Ballarat, Bendigo and Geelong were invited to participate. Of these, over 20,000 households joined program, receiving advice and ideas for using water more efficiently at home. Around 4,300 households were recruited in City West Water’s service area.

The changes
Those people who had been involved in the program for the 12 month period, and who had had conversations and further interactions over time, reported significant changes that they made to the efficiency of their appliances and fixtures as well as to their behaviour. Of the 4,300 City West Water households that participated, over 76% of participants said the program helped them save water.

By the end of the program:

Over 41% had installed a water-saving showerhead
Over 60% said they used a shower timer or timed themselves in the shower
Over 14% installed water flow restrictors.

Changes were embedded in people’s lives
The WaterSmart program has shown that:

Changes to both the uptake of appliances and behaviour have occurred using the voluntary behaviour change, relationship building approach
Retrofitting programs can still be part of the approach to reducing water consumption – the two programs are complementary, not mutually exclusive
The behaviour change method built a relationship and encouraged people to think for themselves in regards to water as evidenced by the growing ‘maturity’ of their requests during follow-up calls
The approach encouraged change in areas other than water, suggesting that it can be a building block for a broader based approach to living smarter, not just using water smarter
There was a high level of satisfaction with the program, suggesting that people in the community think more highly of the water corporations for their role in assisting them to make changes they wanted to make

The findings from the program will be documented and help to shape the development of water conservation programs for the future.

City West Water would like to thank all its customers for participating in the program.

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