Today I rigged up a way of saving lots of water. Our washing machine, which although is already highly efficient with its water usage, still uses at least a couple buckets of water per wash. By taking the hose that hangs over the sink so the water goes down the sink drain, and elevating it over the tap, we can simply leave a bucket under the hose to catch water. The bucket will fill up, and overflow. The cleanest water will be left in the bucket, and this can be put on the garden. You can also catch water that you use to wash hands, and stuff like that.
It should be known however, that it’s very important to make sure you use an environmentally friendly washing powder/detergent. This is because it will eventually seep down into the water table, so it’s imperative to ensure it has a very minimal chemical content. I haven’t chosen the washing powder/detergent that we’ll use yet because I need to take this information to the supermarket, but here is the info I will use to select the most environmentally friendly detergent:
Lanfax Laundry Products Research
On the site, you will find download links to view and print two pdf’s with all the info you need on washing detergents/powders for sale in Australia, and direct comparisons.
Alternatively, download them from me:
Graphs of sodium and phosphorus in laundry detergents
Brochure on sodium and phosphorus
Today I also fertilised our lawn, and also applied sulphate of potash, which will make the lawn a lot more drought tolerant. I’m aiming to go for at least two weeks between watering our lawn regardless of heat waves this summer. I’ve invested time and effort into making the lawn require a lot less water in terms of quantity and frequency by increasing the depth of the root systems, through regular fertilising, weeding, and coring of the lawn.
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