Eun-Jee Rhee Yr 11

Water Use and Waste Water

Management
Audit
Day Water Meter Reading
1 (29/6/13) 10:30am 3918 | 9306
7 (6/7/13) 11:00am 3923 | 6667
8 (7/7/13) 4:00pm 3924 | 9072
15 (14/7/13) 4:30pm 3929 | 4990

Week Daily Weekly Yearly
1 (Brushed inside) 676.6L 4736.1L 246,277.2L
2 (Brushed outside) 656.0L 4591.8L 238,773.6L
DIFFERENCE/WATER
SAVED
20.6L 144.2 7503.6L

Survey Results
After conducting a survey with my family, namely parents, using Ways to Conserve Water as a
guide, I have summarised with the following results.
The Bathroom: We have an AAA shower head installed. Our toilets have only one full flush. Everyone
takes an average of 9 minutes to shower. Most people turn off the tap while brushing their teeth
and those who shave, do it with an electric razor which doesnt require water. We have a tap
regulator installed, reducing our shower head to expel 12L of water per minute. We always repair
any leaking tap washers or toilet cisterns and check regularly for any leakage.
The Kitchen: We never use our dishwasher and wash all our dishes by hand. When we wash the
dishes, instead of a rinse bucket, we fill the sink with hot soapy water and put our dirty dishes in to
soak, and while its in there, we scrub off the leftover food particles, drain the water and rinse the
soap off the dishes. Our cold water comes from a filter which we refill every day.
The Laundry: Our washing machine is a top loader and because we have a big family, we use it a lot,
but to save water, we match our washing machines water level with the size of the load to be
washed. Our washing machine has a 4 star rating for water efficiency, consuming 102L of water per
wash.
In the Garden: We do not have a front lawn because we live in a townhouse and we barely have a
backyard. Therefore, we dont treat or condition our gardens at all since we dont use it and is
hidden from view. Instead, we have pot plants, most of which can survive without any water at all.
We rarely wash our car and usually just let the rain clean it, but when we do, we use a bucket /and
sponge. We dont have a pool either.
Ideas
Take shorter showers.
Brush teeth outside of showers.
Eun-Jee Rhee Yr 11

Use a rinse bucket instead of the sink to wash dishes or plug the sink rather than have it
running.
Keep cold water in the fridge rather than filling up the filter and keeping it cold, which would
use electricity too.
Flush the toilet with a bucket of water, collected from showers.
Installing a rainwater tank.
Redirecting shower water for gardening.
Implemented Improvement
The improvement I have chosen to implement is to brush my teeth outside of showers rather than
let the water run, thus wasting excess water. This improvement is a small change, but judging from
the results, I will be able to determine how much water is actually being wasted on something as
small as brushing your teeth outside of the shower. Comparing the water usage difference from a
week of brushing it inside the shower and brushing it outside will determine how much water I
would save weekly and thus, daily and yearly. The benefits of this improvement will be to save water
and also to measure the amount of water being wasted, so that it will convince others to implement
the same regularity.
Report
The implemented improvement was to brush teeth outside of showers. Litres of water are wasted
from people standing in the running shower while brushing their teeth, when they could be brushing
it outside and saving water. A person takes about 1-3 minutes to brush their teeth and if theyre
brushing it in the shower, they could easily use up 50L or more, depending on if they have tap
regulators installed, of wasted water.
On the first day, I will check the water meter and record. For one week after that time, I will brush
my teeth inside the shower and at the end of the week, will check the water meter again at about
the same time and record. The next day, I will check the water meter and for one week after that
time, I will brush my teeth outside the shower and at the end of the week, will check the water
meter again at about the same time and record. Comparing the water usage difference from a week
of brushing it inside the shower and brushing it outside will determine how much water I would save
weekly and thus, daily and yearly.
The benefits of this improvement is that it will save the amount of water used daily, since people
shower every day. Every minute even with tap flow regulators, our showerhead expels 12L of water
per minute. Thats saving about 24L or more every time you brush your teeth. When people see how
much water is being wasted from minor things such as brushing your teeth, it will hopefully convince
them to adopt the method of brushing their teeth outside and save money and water in the long run.
The drawbacks of this improvement is that some members may not want to participate, however,
since it is something as small as brushing teeth outside rather than inside, many will most likely
comply. This improvement was only carried out by me, but even that alone shows how much water
has already been saved. There are seven members in my family, all taking about 9 minute showers,
every day, and if everyone agreed to brush their teeth outside the shower, we would save a
dramatic amount of water and money long-term. Also, the drawbacks during the testing of this, is
that the water meter readings can change due to many variables such as: other people using water
at the same time, more dishes to wash due to family dinners, more usage of the washing machine,
etc.
Eun-Jee Rhee Yr 11

The results showed that, theoretically, if implemented, about 21L of water would be saved daily,
about 144L saved weekly and 7504L saved yearly, saving more than a weeks worth of used water at
the end of each year.