New showerhead and tap aerators for free...

At the time we were doing our household water audit council advertised that they had a free showerhead replacement scheme.  As the shower was the most water hungry activity in our house I was quick to ring through and book in a visit.  Close to a week after making the booking we have had our new showerhead and an aerator put into the handbasin and the kitchen sink.


Do I expect these to make a difference... lets see......

Our old showerhead was pumping out a luxurious 22 litres per minute, with the new showerhead installed we can control the flow rate from a dribble at 1.5 litres per minute to a nearly as luxurious 8.5 litres per minute.  Even at full strength our new water saving showerhead uses only 38% of the water of the old showerhead. Given that in the audit a staggering 1,460 litres was going down the drain in the shower a week, we should see real water savings of at least 900 litres per week (or 47 kilo litres a year). If we turn the shower to a dribble we will see more water savings (just 7% of the old showerheads water used) - not bad for the cost of a local phone call.

On top of the savings to be made in the shower, the kitchen sinks water usage will drop by about 50% with the aerator - that is the aerator has cut the flow from the tap by half.  In the bathroom the water used for washing hands and cleaning teeth will drop by 75% - with the aerator installed water flows out at one quarter of the volume per minute.  Although these savings are smaller - every little bit counts and they are simple cost effective measures to implement.

One of my next tasks is to investigate the possibility of installing another rainwater tank to make use of the water we can collect off our roof to further supplement the supply of rainwater to our main toilet and to the laundry while still maintaining a supply of water for garden.