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Daily water use per person varies widely in Europe – from a low of about 80 litres per day (L/d) in Lithuania to more than three times that volume (260 L/d) in Spain. Adopting simple measures can help every household cut back.

Faucets and pipes

• Check for leaks: monitor your water meter for a period of two hours when you know that no water is being used. If it changes, you'll know there's a leak: investigate where.
• Fix the leaks: the steady drip from a worn-out faucet washer can send water down the drain at a rate of 80 L/d; larger leaks, larger losses.
• Insulate water pipes: it's easy and inexpensive with pre-slit foam pipe insulation; you'll hot water from taps more quickly and avoid wasting cold water while waiting for hot.

Toilets

• Toilets account for 40% of water use in some households: depending on the size of family, simple tricks like those below can save 2 L per flush, and add up to 50 L/d.
• Check for leaks between the tank and the bowl: to do this, put a few drops of food colouring in the tank water, but do NOT flush. If colour begins to appear in the bowl water within 30 minutes, a seal may need to be replaced. Many parts are easy to buy at a local hardware store and easy to install with some basic instructions.
• Put plastic bottles or a float booster in the tank: fill and cap two 1-L water bottles (adding sand or pebbles for weight) and place in the tank, safely away from the operating devices. Alternatively, put a couple of bricks in the tank. Either option will reduce the volume of water need to refill the tank after each flush. Ensure 10 L per flush is maintained to avoid double flushing.
• If buying a new toilet: opt for a 'low-flush' version, which typically use 5 L to 10 L per flush instead of the usual 15 L to 20 L. This represents up to 70% savings in water flushed and cuts overall indoor water use by about 30%.
• Use toilets for their intended purpose: avoid flushing to dispose of small items like facial tissues or cigarette butts; each flush of a standard toilet is 20 L to 30 L.

Showers and tubs

• Install low-flow faucet aerators: with a flow rate of 1.9 litres per minute (L/min) to 3.8 L/min, compared to 7.6 L/min or 15.1 L/min for standard faucets, aerators can reduce water consumption by 77%. This is the single best method – and the cheapest – to save water at home.
• Opt for water-saving shower heads: poorly designed or old model shower heads can 20 L to 40 L of water every minute; inexpensive 'low-flow' versions use less than 10 L/min while maintaining a satisfactory flow and are easy to install.
• Add a ShowerStart device t o your shower head: this gadget stops or reduces water flow once water reaches the desired temperature. It alerts the user that he or she can step in without getting a cold blast, while also saving hot water (and the energy used to heat it) from going straight down the drain.

Kitchen Sinks

• Don't let faucet run while cleaning fruits and vegetables: rinse them in a stoppered sink or
• Minimise use of kitchen sink garbage disposal units: in-sink 'garburators' need lots of water to operate properly. They also add a considerable volume of solids to septic tanks, which can lead to maintenance problems. Start a compost pile to dispose of food waste.
• If washing dishes by hand: don't leave water running to rinse. If using a single sink, put washed dishes in a rack and rinse with a spray device or a pan of hot water. If using a double sink, fill one with soapy water, the other with rinse water.

Personal Behaviours

• Avoid long, hot showers: limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off. A four-minute shower uses approximately 80 L to 100 L of water; do the math to figure out what a longer shower means for overall consumption.
• Turn off water while brushing teeth: wet your toothbrush and fill a water glass for rinsing when you're done; then, close the tap and save several litres.
• Rinse razors in the sink: fill the sink with a few inches of warm water and swish your razor around; this method unclogs whiskers just as well as well as running water, with far less water wasted
• Keep a bottle of drinking water in the fridge:opening the tap until water runs cool is wasteful; instead, fill a bottle and store it in the fridge.

Small savings every time you interact with water – whether at home or in public spaces – can quickly add up to savings of 100 L/day or more.

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