Lower your water bill

Are you one of those who leave the tap running when you brush your teeth and put the washing machine on half load? Well, write down this information to get an idea of ​​the amount of water that is wasted every day in Spanish homes due to small gestures that we hardly give importance to. “A dripping faucet in each house would fill a football stadium in just 18 days,” highlights the Aquae Foundation, dedicated to promoting projects related to the sustainable management of water resources.

What can we do then to save on the bill and, at the same time, avoid excessive consumption of a commodity as precious as water? «The first thing is to check that the facilities work correctly and that we do not have any leaks. A small leak in a stopcock wastes more than 75 liters a day, ”the Aquae Foundation warns.

Check all the faucets

The bathroom is, by far, the place in the house where the most water is consumed. Specifically, two thirds of the total. Hence, most of the expert advice to avoid waste focuses on this area of ​​the house. The gesture that saves the most and that we all have in mind is to change the bathtub for a quick five-minute shower. But he’s not the only one. Another very simple measure is to close the taps. “Check first that they are efficient and do not have them open while you brush your teeth, shave or soap yourself…”, they advise in the Organization of Consumers and Users. To know if the taps expel more water than necessary, you have to leave them open for half a minute. “If during that time it collects more than four liters, they are wasteful,” warn the OCU experts. In that case, the solution is to change all the taps in the house for a more modern and efficient one, although there are intermediate measures on the market to reduce water consumption in the taps, such as the installation of flow limiters, timers or aerators. , which make the water come out in the form of pearls.

Half load tanker

Another of the sources where more is wasted is the toilet. «The most efficient models have a double push-button cistern, which discharges three liters for minor waters and six for majors. If the toilet is one of the old ones, a saving device with a double button can also be installed inside the ceramic casing or a limiter can be placed in the overflow pipe to reduce several liters of water in each flush”, they specify in the OCU.

Better dishwasher than by hand

Turning off the taps also works in the kitchen, the second room in the house where the most water is consumed. Forget washing the dishes by hand a couple of times a day (100 liters on average), save much more if you wait to fill the dishwasher (25 litres). Laundry also allows us to scratch a few euros off the bill and reduce our environmental footprint. A gesture as simple as putting the washing machine at maximum capacity «saves between 2,500 and 2,800 liters per month», they give the data in the Aquae Foundation.

Innecesary expenses

And so it goes on. Thaw food under running water instead of in the fridge or at room temperature; let the water run until it comes out cool to take a drink; water the plants in the central hours of the day (much better at dawn or dusk); a hose to clean the sidewalk… «Water consumption has multiplied by six in the last century and is growing at a constant rate of approximately 1% per year, which will lead to a worsening of the quality of life of those places where access to this resource is already a problem and will begin to be in some regions where it is not yet”, they reflect at the Aquae Foundation.