Why didn’t you think of this earlier?! Take advantage of the rainy season by harvesting rain water to use around your home and save on your water bill. Here are five (5) practical uses of rain water to benefit your family and the environment:
Plant Care:
Rain water can be harvested to water your garden and household plants. Instead of pipe borne water for decorative or indoor plants, use rain water. Establish your garden in such a manner that it can benefit greatly from rainy days. Ensure that your plants are in an area where water can be accumulated and drained out to avoid erosion and flooding. This increases the self-efficiency of the plants and decreases the need for constant care.
The toilet:
A toilet can use up to 12 liters of water per flush. An average person uses 30 liters of water flushing the toilet per day or 210 liters per week. That is money that can be spent on other things or saved for ‘a rainy day’. Installing a tank to toilet system can lead to major water savings.
The Washing Machine:
You can also save loads of money and water by connecting your washing machine to your tank. Washing machines can use up to 150 liters of water per load and most households do 5-6 loads of washing per week. If the option of installing a tank is not desirable to you, rain water can simply be collected in a bucket or barrel and used to fill the machine.
Rain Shower:
Rain water is perfectly safe for use in the shower while taking a bath. Bathing uses about 54,000 liters per year which can be saved if the shower is connected to a rainwater collection tank. If the source of water is not from a collection tank which filters the water it may first need to be decontaminated based on where it is collected.
The Kitchen and Household Chores:
Dishwashing and the kitchen uses about 27,000 liters per year, convert this as money in the bank by using rain water to handle those chores. In addition, use rain water for other domestic chores such as mopping and other general cleaning tasks.