Water-wise savings

03/07/2007

Chelmsford residents have made massive water savings in a unique initiative designed to conserve this precious resource.

They saved an overall equivalent of 28,936 baths of water in the first four months of the water-saving toolkit project organised by Essex & Suffolk Water.

It is hoped that the good work started by the project will carry on and that those who took part will continue to save water by making permanent changes to their lifestyle.

The project, which ran from November 2006-March 2007, offered the 1073 households taking part the chance to choose from a range of free water saving products tailored to suit their individual needs.

Residents were given a toolkit of items to choose from including a water butt to help store rainwater, a shower timer, water-storing crystals and a tap insert to reduce flow volumes.

Products had a different credit value and each household was able to order 30 credits worth of goods from the selection on offer.

Each household taking part saved an average of 13.5 litres of water a day – the equivalent of 55 cups of tea.

As part of the project, Essex & Suffolk Water customers were invited to enter a competition to suggest the best way to encourage others to become water-wise.

The winner was mum-of-three Chrissie Manfredi from Chelmer Village who held a get together with her friends to spread the word on being water-wise. As a reward for her efforts, Chrissie won a water and energy-efficient dishwasher which uses only 12 litres of water during each wash.

She said: “The toolkit project was a great idea – it has really encouraged me to become much more water-wise and think about how much I use in the home and garden.

“I am very pleased with the dishwasher – I will use less water now compared to washing up in the kitchen sink.”

Tom Andrewartha from Essex & Suffolk Water added: “We would like to say a big thank to everyone who took part in this initiative – it proved to be very successful and it just goes to show you that most people can do something to reduce their water use without impacting on their quality of life.”

Ends

For further information please contact Claire Bishop on 01245 212 010.