Water in Housing

Ideas from Andy Dodwell, Curate in Barnstaple
 
I recently acquired an E.On ShowerSave, available free from South West Water, which reduces water usage in the shower to 7.6 litres per minute, and it made me think ‘I wonder what that adds up to over the year, and how much money that saves? I wonder how much it would save the diocese if every clergy fitted this?’
  • If like me, the installation of a ShowerSave reduces the flow rate by about 2 litres per minute, that saves 10 litres for each 5 min shower.
  • Assuming that on average 2 people in any house have a shower each day, that’s 20 litres per day, or 7,300 litres per year
  • Using the most recent South West Water tariff that I could find, the water rates are £1.6795 per 1,000 litres, so that’s £12.26 per year
Then it got me thinking…
 
If you use a Hippo in your toilet cistern, also available free from South West Water, that saves 3 litres per flush on pre-1992 toilets. Hippos and ShowerSave devices take about 5 minutes to install.
  • Assuming you flush 6 times a day in the house, the saving is 18 litres per day, 6,570 litres or £11.03 per year.
How about not overfilling/emptying your kettle each time you use it
  • The saving could be 1 litre each time, say 5 times per day, another 1,825 litres or £3.06 per year.
Try using a bucket to wash your car each month or watering can to water the garden each week instead of using a hose for 15 minutes.
  • That means using about 10 litres instead of 250 litres, so you’d save 2,880 litres and 12,480 litres respectively, adding up to £25.27 per year.
I reckon most of these are reasonably conservative, and there are various other efficiency measures, such as not leaving taps running, using only full and efficient dishwashers/washing machines - see www.savewatersavemoney.co.uk for ideas.
  • Add it all together and I save 31,055 litres each year, or £52.15 off the Diocese's water bill, for one clergy house.
  • Assuming 200 stipendiary clergy that’s a £10,340 saving each year, almost half an incumbent’s stipend!

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