Your home

The key to water efficiency is reducing waste, not restricting use. Consumers can help reduce waste by making small behavioural changes and by choosing water efficient products for use within the home and garden.

The average person in the region uses nearly 160 litres of water per day – that’s over 58,000 litres of water a year! The graph below shows where water is consumed within the home and garden. There are many simple changes you could make to your lifestyle that will help reduce your water use and conserve the precious resource for the years to come.

Remember, reducing your water consumption also reduces energy use and your carbon emissions. Energy is required throughout the water treatment process and to pump the water to your home.

When you take a shower, energy is also required to heat the water (to calculate how much energy and money you could save by spending one minute less in the shower, please view the Shower calculator webpage for further information). Therefore, using less water works hand in hand with other environmental issues.

Education

Essex & Suffolk Water are committed to working with young people and encouraging the efficient use of water from a young age. We recognise the importance of helping younger people to understand how to use water wisely, and with this in mind we have developed an exciting and varied programme for school children.

To view or download the Using water wisely - activity sheets visit the Useful resources page of the education section for more information.