Yesterday, we visited the Royal Botanical Gardens in Melbourne.

The weather and gardens were beautiful, but we really noticed how lush and green the lawns were. It was inviting and refreshing to see all that green – and the number of people picnicking there proved the appeal.

What was interesting was to see various notices around the gardens referring to their water usage. They have reduced their water consumption in the last 10 years by about 50% through a system of testing, training staff and improved horticultural practices.

It is an interesting thought that checking your irrigation systems can make a difference to your water consumption. of course, the Botanical Gardens have major irrigation systems to check – they manually check the pressure level of all sprinklers for instance.

However, at home you can check the following things:

• do fittings fit your tap so that there are no drips and leaks when you use a hose or system?
• is your hose in good condition without leaks?
• if you have a watering system, is every sprinkler head clean and clear to allow water flow?
• does your tap timer turn the tap completely off when it finishes?
• does your tap drip?
• do all sprinkler heads point towards plants as appropriate – as plants grow and gardens change, the heads may need to be adjusted

When you consider that a leaking tap can waste up to 20,000 litres of water a year, these regular checks can save a significant amount of water.

Posted: March 30th, 2008 under gardening, saving water.
Comments: 3

How wonderful it was to go to sleep last night with the sound of rain on the roof, and to look out the window this morning and see damp ground!

Did you make the most of the rainfall?

Some things you may have done were:

• put pot plants in open areas
• put out some buckets or containers to catch water
• remove the cover from your pool to get a top up
• danced in the rain, enjoy the feeling of rain and be grateful for the water in our gardens

Posted: March 25th, 2008 under nature's gift.
Comments: none

The cost of a litre of water is actually very low in Australia – which means that saving water by harvesting rain probably won’t save you a huge amount of water. That is, you won’t save a lot on your water usage charges.

However, collecting water in a tank can save you money in other ways:

• the amount of water you use form the mains is used to determine the amount of sewerage disposal you are charged. The assumption is that if you use more water, you will put more into the waste system, so reducing water usage will save you in sewerage costs
• a healthy garden can provide shading for your house which reduces your need for (and therefore the expense associated with ) air conditioning
• having water for growing your own fruit and vegetables will save you money from buying food at the shops – especially if you prefer organic options. It also is better for the environment as there is less transportation and farming machine costs.
• you can wash your car at home instead of at a commercial car wash – a much cheaper option!
• keeping soil around your home moist (by watering gardens) may prevent cracks in your house resulting from dried out soil and foundations. Fixing cracks in brickwork and plaster can be expensive and time consuming, and that doesn’t count re-stumping or potential dangers from instability either.

Posted: March 14th, 2008 under general, saving water.
Comments: none

For many people, just having a lush or at least a living garden is enough reason to use water on your plants. But there are actually some other advantages to keeping the soil moist.

If the land around your home gets overly dry, it can lead to changes in the soil which can affect the foundations of the house – cracks in the plaster is just a symptom of this. Moisture in the soil maintains stability of the ground and house.

Having a green and moist garden also offers a reduced risk of fire – dry and dead wood burns more readily than green, moist wood.

Of course, just having a nice environment, a connection with nature and a safer, welcoming environment for the kids are also important reasons for ensuring there is enough water for our gardens as well as our personal needs.

Posted: March 5th, 2008 under gardening, general.
Comments: none

Did you know that to grow $1 worth of rice in Australia needs over 1700 litres of water?

That is a lot of water for a small amount of food. I’m not sure how much water it takes in other countries but it is less than Australia because they grow rice in wet areas – we grow it closer to the desert than the coast. 

Maybe some scientists could find a way to grow rice with less water? Or maybe we need to find better places to grow it?

I wonder if brown rice is better because it uses less water in processing?

Posted: February 22nd, 2008 under general, junior water, saving water.
Comments: none

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: 4

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