A study done in 2007 shows just how important it is for each of us to ‘do the right thing’, and how little actions (or lack of action in this case) really do add up.

Let’s be honest, how many times have you forgotten to turn off your computer before you leave work or go to bed? Doesn’t seem like a big deal does it?

In corporate USA, about 30% of computers are not turned off and this is costing about $1.72 billion US a year, and wasting 14.4 metric tons of Carbon Dioxide (Co2) every year.

In the UK, about 18% of work computers are never turned off and another 17% are only sometimes turned off at night and for weekends. Wasting another 700,000 tonnes of CO2 and 1.5 billion kilowatt hours, at a cost of £115 million.

Add in the energy required when those computers are in use plus the computers used in homes, and there is a lot of energy being used for computers.

So you can make a difference to our energy consumption by turning off your computer every time you are away from it fora more than an hour or two. And turn off your monitor (screen) off whenever you are not using it.

It is also good for your computer (so it will work efficiently and need replacing less often) to be shut down regularly to cool down and carry out various processes.

Posted: February 20th, 2008 under general.
Comments: 2

The order of water use, from biggest use to smallest, in Australia is:

agriculture
household
services
manufacturing
mining

Surprised? Don’t forget that agriculture incldues crops, livestock, tree farms and flowers.

As for how much, well out of 10 litres of water used in Australia, 7 litres are used by agriculture! That doesn’t leave much for the other users!

The break up is about

agriculture - 7 liters
household - 1.2 litre
services - 1.1 litre
manufacturing - .3 litres
mining - .3 litres

I wonder how we can cut back agriculture’s water use?

Posted: February 16th, 2008 under general, junior water.
Comments: none

In garden class this week, we looked at who uses the most water in Australia. It was really interesting - and surprising, too.

If all of Australia used 10 litres of water in a year, how much would the following groups use?

manufacturing
households
agriculture
mining
services (electricity, gas, hospitals, fire fighters, sewrage, etc)

We had a 10 litre watering can and had to separate it into 2 litres bottles for each of the groups. I don’t think anybody got the order completely right, and none of us would have guessed the amounts.

Have a guess and I’ll give you teh answer tomorrow…

Posted: February 15th, 2008 under general, junior water.
Comments: none

The grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. Fences have nothing to do with it. The grass is greenest where it is watered. When crossing over fences, carry water with you and tend the grass wherever you may be.

Robert Fugram

  Do you agree with him?

It’s certainly true for gardening - instead of watching your neighbours’ green gardens, care for your own and it will be a green haven for you. Conserve your water, plan your garden carefully, and it will stay green despite the weather.

Posted: February 1st, 2008 under general, nature's gift.
Comments: none

Water used in your home is classed into two broad categories – grey and black water. Black water must be sent into the sewerage system, but grey water can potentially be reused in your home.

Black water includes:

•   Everything flushed through a toilet
•  Water from your dishwasher (it contains a lot of grease, harsh detergents and other solids) 

Grey water includes:

• Water from the laundry, especially the rinse cycles 
• Bath and shower water 

 If anyone in your house has gastro or another tummy bug, the flu or measles, it is best to not use even grey water to ensure the disease is not spread.

Posted: January 28th, 2008 under general, saving water.
Comments: 1

Leaf guards for gutters generally consist of some sort of mesh sitting on top of your gutters to stop leaves, twigs, animals and so on getting into your gutters.

Whilst it is important to keep gutters free of such debris, gutter guards are not the perfect solution. Leaves can build up on top of a leaf guard which presents a fire risk and also means that decomposed leaves will get through the mesh into the gutters below.The smartflo gutters are based on the same principle but instead of a mesh across the entire gutter, they have a solid cover to the gutter. There are filters along the length of the gutter to allow water through but prevent other materials entering the gutter. The long term prospect is that the water harvested will be cleaner and the gutters remain unblocked and undamaged for longer.We have not seen these gutters in action, but the manufacturers claim all debris is blown away so these gutters never need cleaning, even in fire season.

Posted: January 26th, 2008 under collecting water, green products.
Comments: none

I am so excited to be able to write about water things with you - I love Precious Water and am so proud my dad and mum are making tanks to save water.

 Mum is going to help me with spelling and make sure I write things that are true, but mostly this is my bit of the blog.

On our holidays, we saw that many people don’t want a desal plant near Wonthaggi - they even have a website about it. I wonder if they’d need desal if everyone just collected rainwater and fixed leaky taps.

In case you don’t know, desal is short for desalination (glad mum helped with THAT word!) and just means taking the salt out of sea water so we can drink it. I’m not sure what they do with all teh salt then - maybe put it back into the sea or maybe we could use it on our fish and chips!

Anyway, I hope we can have some fun and learns some things together as Junior Water.

Posted: January 23rd, 2008 under junior water.
Comments: none

Savign water must be part of all our lives - hopefully, our children will grow up with a greater respect for our natural resources and be used ot conserving those resources whenever possible. And it is in part for our children that we care about what we are doing to our environment.

Part of our goal at Precious Water is to educate people about water, which is why we provide this blog, articles and images on the site. In order to make it easier for children to understand, respect and conserve water, we are introducing the Junior Water section of our blog.

Junior Water is the child of Precious Water’s owners, and with her Mum’s help, she will post about water and the environment at least once or twice a month.

Posted: January 21st, 2008 under junior water.
Comments: none

Stage 3a water restrictions obviously affect pool and spa owners, too. 

If you have a new pool or spa, you can’t use tap water to fill it. Of course, you can use tank water or even ground water if available.

If your existing pool or spa takes 2,000 litres or less of water, you can use a bucket or watering can to fill it, but never with a hose connected to tap water.A larger existing pool or spa can only be filled with tap water if you have a water conversation plan from your local water company.You can top up your existing pool or spa with a bucket or watering can, but never with a hose connected to tap water.Under stage 4, topping up existing pools/spas by bucket will be allowed but no filling of pools/spas will be allowed without specific permission from your local water authority.

Posted: January 19th, 2008 under general, saving water.
Comments: none

We recently saw ads for a new style of toilet. It has a cistern as usual, but the top of it is actually a basin and tap. So the water from washing your hands then goes into the cistern and is used to flush the toilet.

Instant use of your grey water with minimal plumbing and pipes - sounds like a great idea to us! Could save space in msall rooms, too.

We can’t give you a price or brand name, but it’s certainly something to think about next time you need a new toilet.

Posted: January 17th, 2008 under green products.
Comments: none