From everyone at Precious Water, we wish you and your family a very happy Christmas and holiday season. We also wish you a peaceful, prosperous and love-filled 2010.

Precious Water is closed over the holiday period, but we will be back to help save our precious resources in mid January.

Posted: December 25th, 2009 under general.
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We recently received a flyer from our local water supply company, in which they stated that we* have used an average of 152 litres each a day this year – 10 litres less than we averaged at the same time last year.

Of course, 152 litres each during winter isn’t as hard as meeting 155 during summer, although it is possible if we all try. And spring is a great time to prepare for less water usage in summer:

• get your gardens mulched before the weather heats up
• make use of the spring rains (collect it in water tanks, put pot plants in the rain, let rain top up pools & spas, etc)
• check for leaking taps
• swap to efficient shower heads, dual flush toilets, etc
• weed the garden frequently – fewer weeds leave more water for the plants you actually want
• transplant plants that need it – doing it in the heat is more stressful for the plant

Is there something different you can put in place now to keep your summer water consumption down?

*”We” being the people they service – I’m not sure what the state figures are like yet.

Posted: November 4th, 2009 under saving water.
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Climate change is here, its important and its our common responsibility to deal with. As climate change progresses, many people are going to be affected by floods, famine, lost land and human events. And many people feel strongly about calling us all to action – today is blog action day for climate change and we want to do our bit to help our planet.

Climate change obviously affects water. The obvious impact for Victorians in recent years has been hotter weather and less rain leading to the draught and Black Saturday – there is no reason to believe that temperatures will drop back to what they were 20 or 50 fifty years ago, so we need to be careful with our water supplies if we want to survive.

The other impact, eventually, will be an increase in sea levels. In one sense we could be pleased about additional water but the reality is that sea water is too salty for us and desalination plants are expensive and have their own issues.

We believe it is important to work against climate change – at least we can slow it down. Some of the steps we think will help are:

• encourage households to introduce general environmental practises (turing off unwanted lights, saving water, putting on a jumper not a heater, etc)
• encouraging people to add conservation facilities to their homes, such as water tanks, solar hot water systems, solar power generators and good insulation
• reducing our reliance on cars – let’s walk more and travel by train, tram or bus for longer distances
• ensuring all new buildings (not just houses) are energy efficient – that means designing them properly rather than just adding a few environmentally friendly features to a poor design
• educate ourselves and our children about the impact of our daily choices – for example, how much does it cost the environment to choose a Victorian apple compared to an apple from overseas?

What is your favourite tip for reducing climate change? How important do you consider conserving water as part of working against climate change?

Posted: October 15th, 2009 under challenges, general.
Comments: 3

Did you now that 1 litre of oil can pollute 1 million litres of water? That’s a lot of water from a little but of oil!

So part of saving water is keeping it clean but not polluting with oil. Some ways we can help…

• don’t use oil if we really don’t have to – try non stick cooking trays and stuff
• check cars for oil leaks and fix them soon
• don’t throw oil down the sink – pour it in the bin, add it to compost or take to a drop off point (depending on type of oil)
• make sure boats & ships don’t have leaks or spills
• don’t leave oil where it can be knocked over and spill into creeks or drains
• walk as much as possible to use less oil & petrol

Posted: May 17th, 2009 under general, junior water, saving water.
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We’re no financial experts, and frankly can’t judge how long the economy will be down or how much the Budget will shorten the recession by, but we have reviewed the Budget for it’s greenness and here’s what we found…

1.The Initiative comprises three new elements:

• a $2.0 billion investment in carbon capture and storage (CCS) projects under a CCS Flagships program
• a $1.5 billion Solar Flagships program to demonstrate large‑scale solar technologies

2. $2 billion over 9 years towards projects that will deal with carbon dioxide collection and storage.

3. A $100 million grant in 2009‑10, which will create an energy network in one demonstration project that integrates a smart grid with smart meters in homes.

4. Establishing a new renewable technology innovation body — Renewables Australia — with an initial funding allocation of $465 million over four years.

5. Introducing a new Solar Flagships program with funding of $1.5 billion over six years that will invest in large‑scale solar electricity generation projects. Through the development of up to four major projects the program will demonstrate solar at a capacity of 1,000 MW, which is similar in scale to that of a large coal‑fired power station.

So there is certainly some green spending in the plans, but nothing for water conservation unfortunately.

Posted: May 13th, 2009 under Uncategorized, general.
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We have joined May Madness with Save Time Online so for the month of May, we are offering a special deal (10% discount for all tanks) - no catches, nothing extra for you to do except mention May Madness when you place your order.

And while you’re at it, you may just find some other great, sorry mad, deals to stretch your budget further.

Posted: May 1st, 2009 under Uncategorized, general, water tanks.
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It’s school holidays so last week we had a trip to the zoo in Melbourne – just about the best zoo ever I think.

There’s a new water plant there – down near the back gate – and it’s quite big. It’s a big room and you can see into it through windows along one wall with information boards. Inside, there are lots of pumps, pipes, tanks and stuff. It was pretty impressive.

The plant takes water from rainfall and some of the enclosures and treats it so it is class A recycled water.

The recycled water is then used for washing animals, filling pools around the zoo, watering the gardens and flushes all toilets in the zoo. Can you believe they’ve used about 50,000 kilolitres in 4 years? That’s a lot of saved water…

Posted: April 14th, 2009 under collecting water, junior water.
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Your immediate answer is likely to be no, but are you sure? About 70% of Australia is classed as desert or semi-desert.

And that may well increase for southern Australia if climate change continues to reduce our rainfall.

Our average annual rainfall is 472mm – and it’s a lot less than that in many places, especially as you consider how much they get in the rainforest areas. Look at how southern Australia has been suffering from a severe drought while parts of Queensland and NSW are being flooded!

Have you ever thought of yourself as living in a largely desert country?

Posted: February 6th, 2009 under general.
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Have you figured out your daily water usage? Is it better (that is, less) than this time last year? If so, what are the biggest changes you have made in the last year?

A lot of water bills now include your water usage per person – our most recent one even compared it to the targeted 155 litres for us  (yes, we are well under – in fact, we use less than half the target each.)

If your bill doesn’t tell you, simply divide your total litres by the number of days covered by the bill and divide again by the number of people in your home. Does the answer surprise you?

Posted: January 30th, 2009 under challenges, general.
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Yesterday, a major water pipe in Northcote ruptured and water fountained in the air for about 12 hours before it was contained. Obviously that’s a lot of water lost and it’s heart breaking to see it go to waste when we can little afford to waste water.

It has been reported that people played in the water (and who can blame them with this heatwave!) and some was caught for gardens and car washing.

In case a major water leak occurs near you, here are some ideas on how to make the most of the leaking water:

catch water in as many containers as you can – tip it onto your plants first, but if it’s still coming, water lawns, top up pools & ponds, water neighbour’s plants, pour some onto your compost pile and wash your car

create small dams in the gutters so water will flow onto nature strips and yards instead of down the drain. If there is a nearby park, oval or public garden, direct some water onto it, too.

find careful ways to store it for a few days – make sure it is covered so it isn’t a drowning risk for children or a breeding ground for mozzies. In a few days, your garden will love a second generous watering!

make sure everyone nearby knows about the leak so they too can collect and use the precious liquid

Have you ever been near a major leak? How did you and others deal with it?

Posted: January 27th, 2009 under saving water.
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