Flow restrictors are the most popular water saving products with 67% fitting them in their home.

The environmental agenda has focused on recycling as much as possible and reducing our carbon footprint in recent years.  While there is still work to do in those areas, awareness has reached such a level that attention can now be turned elsewhere.

Water is now the big focus; specifically what we can all do to save as much water as possible.  As with energy usage and carbon footprint reduction, there is great potential for money saving as well as feeling good about the difference you’re making to the environment.

Here are some handy water saving tips for around the home that you can action quickly, cutting your water use by as much as 60% in some areas.

Being Mindful of Water Use

The first step to take is to adapt your thinking towards water saving.  The little things that you’ve heard for years but perhaps not applied diligently or strictly enough really do add up to make a big difference.

Turning the tap off while brushing your teeth, making sure taps are fully turned off when not in use, and not using running water to clean dishes are all easy to action ideas, but ones that we might not always use.

Other things to consider in terms of how you use water yourself include dishwashers and washing machines, which you should only use when full; they use the same amount of water irrespective of if they’re full or only have one item inside!

Water Saving Products

Once you’re doing everything you can do, it is time to start looking at products that can save even more water for you.  The two areas where you can save a lot of water are the shower, and taps around your home.

Water Saving Showerheads

A water saving showerhead, or alternatively a low flow showerhead, can potentially reduce your water usage when showering by as much as 60%.  While you need to continue being mindful and ensure you only take short showers, one of these products will make a big hole in your water bill.

Tap Aerators

These products work similar to those in the shower, but are attached to taps instead, meaning when you wash your hands, for example, you feel like you’re using the same amount of water, but are actually making a big saving.

Toilet Pushes & Other Products

One thing for potentially huge savings, which many don’t consider, is the toilet, which can literally waste thousands of litres of water a month unnecessarily.  Buy a toilet push, or even fill a bottle with water and pebbles and put it in the water tank yourself, to massively reduce usage and bills.

The Added Benefit

As well as reducing water usage and bills around the home, you’ll also save large amounts of energy in heating water for showers and hand washing, given that you’ll be using, on average, half the volume of water.

Making water savings is important for everyone; ensure you’re doing all you can to make a difference, and you’ll see improvements in your bank balance as a result.

You’re probably already taking various types of action around the home to become more water aware and improve your efficiency. You also probably know that your biggest area for making potential savings is the bathroom.

However, you might be mystified to discover that water efficient showerheads aren’t suitable for an electric shower. Admittedly, it doesn’t make a great deal of sense on the surface that a modern product doesn’t appear fit for a modern initiative. Thankfully, there’s more to this situation than meets the eye.

Taking the Heat
The first consideration is the energy that electric showers use to heat water to a comfortable temperature. In general, when people think of showers they’re only concerned with water usage, and don’t often consider other energy use attached to them.
The energy electric showers use in heating water has a direct impact on the water flow itself. An electric showers’ flow is usually between 3-9 liters per minute, with the average right in the middle at 6 liters per minute.

Even the best water efficient showerheads will only limit water flow to around 7.5 liters per minute, although they sometimes go as low as 6. As a result, fitting a water efficient showerhead won’t actually have any impact!

Can They Damage Your Shower?
Another problem is that water efficient showerheads can actually damage an electric shower. If you have an electric shower with average water flow of 9 liters per minute (which is good on the efficiency scale, anyway) yet try to lower it with a water efficient showerhead, your electric shower could burn itself up quickly.

Electric Showers & Showerheads: The Lowdown
On the face of it, an electric shower seems like a great purchase. This is primarily because you don’t need to buy anything else, as they are already highly efficient with water use.

However, the hidden devil, if you like, with electric showers is the energy they use to heat the water. Taking a 6-minute shower uses the equivalent energy of a light bulb being switched on for 24 hours. If you’re going to go for an electric shower, then short and sharp is the way to approach showering, as your shower will be the biggest energy-consuming appliance at home.

If you have any other type of shower, then a water efficient showerhead is a great purchase to make, but you should still be mindful of the time you spend showering!

Saving water is something that we’re all being asked to do more of today. There are a number of alarming statistics relating to water use, all of which tell us that we should be more mindful about how we’re using water at home and at work. At the same time, we’ve been in this situation before with the environment, only carbon emissions and energy use was the point of focus at an earlier time.

Much like then, people didn’t listen too much to the warnings that centred on environmental issues. What they did listen to, however, was how much money they could save by turning off lights, being mindful of how often the heating is turned on, and undertaking various other steps.

In the same vein, people are likely to be more motivated to save water if they know how much money they’re going to save as a result. Here are the products that offer the best savings on both fronts.

Water Meter
A water meter isn’t going to save water by itself, but it can immediately reduce your bills by ensuring that you pay for what you’re using, rather than the estimate or fixed charge you currently get from your water supplier.
In the longer-term, having a water meter installed will make you more aware of the water you’re using, and will help motivate you to make savings wherever possible.

Low Flow Showerhead
A low flow, water saving showerhead can cut your water consumption while taking a shower by as much as 60%, depending on the model of shower you’re currently using. While this will translate into significant money savings, the biggest impact on your wallet will actually be the money you save from the energy needed to heat the water to take a shower!

If you’re using a low flow showerhead, it is worth buying yourself a shower timer, too, so that you’re taking shorter showers. Why have a low flow showerhead if you then aren’t mindful of the time it takes you to shower?

Faucet Aerators
Having these on your taps can cut your water consumption in half, and depending on the reasons you use your taps, give yet another saving on the energy bill. Again, to make the most of your savings here, you need to be practicing the established ‘good habits’ of not cleaning dishes under running water and turning off the tap when you brush your teeth.

A New Dishwasher
Dishwashers have been accused in the past of being water guzzlers, but modern products are designed to be as efficient as possible when it comes to water and energy use. The best ones even have a ‘half load’ feature, meaning if you’re guilty of potentially wasting water by not filling your dishwasher up before using, you still have a means of making a saving.

Water Butts
Water saving can happen outside of the home as much as inside. If you’re a keen gardener, then a water butt is an essential purchase. Not only will it massively reduce, perhaps even eliminate, the water you take from the supply, it’ll enable you to keep your garden looking brilliant through even the hottest summers when hosepipe bans are widely in place.
Use all of these products to save water and money; you’ll feel good about the environmental benefits and probably even better about the impact on your wallet!

If you’re interested in saving water both for environmental reasons as well as for putting money back into your pocket with reduced bills, then Agua Flux products are perfect for helping you to achieve this.

From your point of view, it is important to remember that you’re still the person who can make the biggest difference to your water usage. Here are some additional reasons why you should use Agua Flux water saving products.

The Biggest Possible Savings

We know the areas that represent the largest uses of water around the home, as well as in business premises. This is why our most widely available and popular products relate to saving water in the bathroom and kitchen. We can’t come to your home or business and tell you when to turn the taps off or how long you should be spending in the shower, but our products will help you, so long as you have a positive attitude, enjoy savings of up to 60%. Remember, too, that you’ll also be saving on your heating bills.

Bulk Discounts

If you’re a modern business who understands your responsibilities when it comes to sustainability and the environment, our products are perfect for helping you to achieve your objectives. In addition, we also offer excellent discounts to business customers who are buying in bulk, whether they have a large office complex or several premises that could benefit from our water saving products.

High Quality

Our products have a great reputation across the whole of Europe, where we are one of the leading businesses supplying water saving products. This is reflected by our feedback rating of 4.96 out of 5 from over 630 customer reviews with Foxrate. All of our customers appreciate the high quality of our products as well as the great prices we offer; in terms of the savings our water saving products offer, they pay for themselves within days of you installing them, and are perfect for anyone who is actively mindful of their water use.

Whether you want to save yourself a small fortune on water and energy bills, or want to reduce your water consumption for environmental reasons, Agua Flux water saving products are perfect for meeting your objectives.

Low flow showerheads are quickly becoming a ‘must have’ product for homeowners conscious about saving water, energy, and money. As with any initiative or product that has potential to bring great change to attitudes and the way we use the natural resources of Earth, the opportunity for savings grows when we turn our attention to businesses.

The hospitality industry is the perfect example of where businesses have huge potential for savings. Within hospitality, hotels would be the most specific place where using low flow showerheads, or other water saving products and initiatives, could make a difference.

Why should hotels use low flow showerheads?

Water Saving Potential

The volume of water a hotel could save by using a low flow showerhead is immense. If you consider that even a small hotel with 20 rooms, for example, uses a colossal amount of water when their guests shower, the savings for larger premises where room numbers are in the hundreds are clearly significant.

Although most hotel premises will have messages on bathroom doors and walls about being conscious of water saving, there is little to nothing they can do to actually control the level of water that guests use when staying. Clearly, fitting water metres to every room and billing guests beyond a certain volume of water use is going to be unpopular. Using low flow showerheads is the best way for hotels to reduce their water use proactively. Yes, some guests are still going to shower for 30 minutes, but those who stick to short showers will help to make a real difference.

Money Savings

The water savings of up to 50% that a hotel could enjoy by using low flow showerheads will also cut a large slice off water and energy bills. Water bill savings thanks to the lower volumes of water use, energy bill savings due to the lower levels of heating needed to heat the reduced levels of water being used.

This money can then be put into another part of the hotel like improving the guest experience, for example.

A Green Business

There’s a lot of mileage today in businesses that have strong green credentials. In fact, being a green business is a must; consumers and other businesses are increasingly making decisions regarding who they deal with based on their green credentials. A hotel using low flow showerheads can confidently say that they’re doing all they can, in terms of guests’ water use, to be as green and as eco-friendly as possible.

Low flow showerheads have many benefits. For hotels and the wider hospitality industry, it is a case of a great reputation and PR as much as it is about the water, energy, and money savings they’ll be able to make, although this is always the primary objective of using such a product.

You’re probably aware of the water saving initiatives that are taking place in your country or local community, whether that is in the form of a hosepipe ban or the promotion of water recycling. However, water saving is a global issue that everyone can do something about.
What is the rest of the world doing to save water? Can any of these ideas inspire your own water saving initiatives?

Corporate Initiatives

In India, the bunds that surround fields used for crops have been increased in height by as much as 22 centimetres. Prior to doing this, a lot of rainwater was lost to run off areas where nothing was growing. Today, this initiative means that 95% of the rainfall in some areas is retained and runs directly to crops such as rice and tea. This leads to a direct saving in the mains supply water that has previously been used to maintain these important crops that bring a lot of money to the country.
This initiative, as well as others to collect and reuse as much rainwater as possible, is sponsored by Nestle.

Increasing Awareness of Water Footprints

You’re probably tired of hearing about reducing your carbon footprint, but the next few years are set to see us becoming ever more aware of our water footprint.
For example, right now, the cup of coffee you’re drinking might seem like just that cup, but it takes 37 gallons of water to grow the beans to make that one cup. More organizations and charities are starting to look at virtual water footprints, and at how we as individuals take responsibility for our own.

Water saving in the future isn’t just going to be about turning off taps at home; we’re all going to have to start looking at the bigger picture.

Water Use in Farming

Crop production is another huge issue on the global agenda, and one that relies on water. Droughts in recent years have seen numerous crops fail around the world, particularly in the southern United States, which in turn pushes up prices and makes life harder for an already economically squeezed global population.

Farmers are now saving as much water as possible in huge water butts and tanks, so that they can deal with drought easier and not be solely reliant on the weather.
It is impossible to understate the importance of water saving initiatives around the world. What can you do to take these ideas and translate them into how you live your life?

You can use a low flow showerhead, a shower flow controller, an electric shower, and various other products to cut down water use, but if you’re not committed to reducing the time you spend in the shower, you’re always going to be in a position where potentially you’re guilty of wasting water.

A Long Soak

Most of us have used the shower rather than the bath on occasions when we want to enjoy a long soak. That said the average length of a shower is around seven and a half to eight minutes.
Of course, with the average being the middle ground, we can safely assume that many people are taking shorter showers, while some will exceed the average and shower for as long as 15 – 20 minutes, on a regular basis in some cases.

How does the Average Measure Up?

In terms of water usage, the average length of a shower actually leads to excessive water use. Naturally, the type of shower you have and your water flow volume are going to have an impact, too, but seven to eight minutes is too long for a shower. If you’re wasting water after this amount of time, consider the savings to be made if you’re in the group taking longer showers!
Remember, too, that by taking a longer shower, not only are you wasting water and so increasing your bill, but you’re also paying for more energy to heat the water. If you’re concerned about your appearance, you should know that regular long, hot showers could damage the skin, too.

How Long Should You Shower For?

If the average shower length is still too long, how quickly should one be taking you? The ideal shower duration to keep water use to a minimum, to keep energy costs down, and to look after your skin, is five minutes. Most shower timers you can find are set to five minutes, while water use indicators will express your time in the shower as the volume of water used in order to keep you aware. There are also some shower timers that will sound an alarm after four minutes, if you wanted to go even further with your water savings, while some allow you to set the time limit yourself, including to a longer period, although doing this would obviously be counterproductive.

There are many great water saving products you can use in your shower. If you are using them, don’t take away the savings they’re giving you by spending longer than you need to in the shower. If you’re not already benefitting from these, it is time to consider buying them while immediately becoming more diligent about the time you spend showering.

It is one of the great debates to have long gone on when it comes to water consumption and conservation at home: which uses more water, taking a shower or taking a bath?

History
Around 20 years ago, the consensus was that taking a shower used much less water than a bath did. At this time, countries including the United States and United Kingdom also introduced regulations to cover how much water could flow through a showerhead. This was the primary reason for us all starting to be advised that taking a shower was better for the environment, as well as our pockets.

Considering the Variables
What the early advice didn’t seem to consider was the varying degrees to which people use a bath or shower. Who really knows how much people fill the bath? Are people 100% honest when saying how long they spend in the shower?

Taking a Bath: The Numbers
We all know that baths come in all shapes and sizes, so it’s difficult to have a definitive number around capacity. However, most ‘standard’ baths hold around 180 litres of water, and perhaps a little more. Therefore, a half filled bath means using 90 litres of water. At the same time, you don’t need a half-full bath in order to bathe comfortably. In fact, you can bathe easily with your bath as little as 20 – 25% full.
If you’re mindful of water use when taking a bath, you can limit your consumption to around 35 litres.

Taking a Shower: The Numbers
The volume of water you use when showering can vary dramatically. If you’re using a low flow showerhead or flow controller, then you easily use as little as the 35 litres we thought was acceptable for taking a bath. However, a power shower can potentially use double that amount, assuming you take a five-minute shower, but as more people tend to take nearer to ten minutes, you’re looking at a colossal 140 litres of water use.

Using Devices and Being Mindful
These are the two keys to saving water, and if you have a positive attitude, it doesn’t matter whether you shower or bath.Your approach should be to only fill your bath to 20% of capacity, or even less if you can, and run both taps together so you don’t waste excessive levels of water trying to get your preferred temperature.

The shower, a low flow showerhead is a ‘must have’ purchase, while using a shower timer or an existing alarm, such as on your smartphone, will help you to keep showers as short as possible.

Here is the top 10 water saving devices to ask your water company for, wherever you are in the world.

Save a Flush

This product does exactly what it suggests.  Save a Flush is a small bag, which expands when placed into your toilet cistern, reducing how much water you use each time you flush.

Hippo

If you have an older toilet with a larger cistern, then Hippo is ideal for saving more water than Save a Flush, and can reduce your water usage from the toilet by as much as 25%.

Tap Inserts

Free aerators that fit into your taps can potentially save you well in excess of 10,000 litres each year, which will lead to a substantial saving on your water bill.  Tap inserts are easy to use, and once they’re in place they require almost no on-going maintenance to ensure they’re still in working order.  In the event you do have a problem with one of them, they are easy to replace.

Toilet Stickers

Most of us treat a leaking toilet innocuously, and assume it’s just the remainder of the last flush moving through the system.  However, a leaking toilet can potentially be costing you a small fortune each year.  A toilet sticker is easy to use; just stick it into your bowl overnight and ensure no one uses the toilet.  An intact sticker means your toilet is fine; if it’s gone, then you have a leak that needs fixing.

Hose Triggers

If you want to save water in the garden, but haven’t moved to using a watering can, a hose trigger is a great product for cutting down your consumption.  Not only does it reduce water flow, it switches off when you’re not using it, saving waste from leaving it lying around or heading back indoors to switch off the tap.

Low Flow Showerhead

Granted, you’ll be lucky to get such a product free, but as the old adage goes, if you don’t ask, you don’t get, and you might be surprised at what your water company can do for you!  A low flow showerhead will save thousands of litres of water per year and not take anything away from your shower experience.

Kitchen Spray Nozzle

This is another product often available if you ask for it, and if you don’t opt for the tap inserts in the kitchen, it is definitely something worth using.

Shower Flow Controller

A small device that allows you to continue using your existing showerhead, a flow controller can reduce water use by the same level as a low flow showerhead, which in turn will save a significant sum in water and energy bills.

Shower Timer

Having the best water saving devices only works if you’re committed to positive action yourself.  If you struggle to take a quick shower, a free timer that tells you when five minutes is up is an excellent motivating tool.

Tooth Timer

You should already be turning off the tap when brushing your teeth anyway; not only does a tooth timer reaffirm this message, it’s also a great way to get youngsters brushing their teeth for the required two minutes morning and night.

While you can purchase all of these products to enjoy great water savings, you can also source them free at various times.  Contact your water company or local authority now to see which products they’re able to provide.