Superheroes save water #2: Despite rain our dams continue to drop – what you can do!

Our dam levels continue to drop, despite regular rain, so Watercare has lifted our water supply status to ‘critical’. It is even more important now that we adopt habits at home and on campus to ensure we keep a focus on minimising water use.

In Watercare’s lastest update, storage levels are still in the mid 40% range – usually around 78% at this time of the year and unfortunately, the longer term outlook is not good. MetService forecaster Georgina Griffiths says we are looking at the driest spring season since 2013, when a major drought affected the upper North Island. This means water restrictions will be in place for the long term so it’s important we create water saving habits now and invest in water saving devices where practical.

Be a water saving superhero

By making a focus on saving water so it becomes a habit, we’ll all be contributing to getting us through the drought and learning how to live more sustainably.

In our last post we outlined a number of tips and ideas on how to be a water saving super hero so check these out and also some great ideas from our staff, which are outlined below.

Staff share their water saving tips and living more sustainably

• Sandra Potier puts a container in her sink when washing dishes, so she can recycle the water for her plants – you can also do this when at work, using a larger dish or container to wash your dishes in versus letting the water run down the drain (or bring in your own cup, lunch dish and cutlery, and take them home to wash-up)
• Peter Rees has cut down his laundry washing to twice a week, is having shorter showers and is also using the toilet half flush option
• Steve Tsai is a super keen sustainability hero… He leaves a bucket (preferably black) in the sun to heat up and then uses that water to shower in a garden bed or next to a thirsty plant, watering the ground at the same time – maybe not so practical now the weather has cooled down!
• Sonia D’Mello took her 6-year-old daughter, Edlynn, to lower Nihotupu reservoir for a fun and educational road trip. She’s been trying to get her family to save water for a while but noticed there was a lack of understanding of water’s importance and where it comes from, but this road trip to the dam has changed that and Edlynn is now a committed water warrior, and has shared what she learnt with all her school friends!
• Debbie Roberts made the investment into water tanks and collects water from their guttering. She got her 200 litre barrels on Trade Me for $40 each, and also has a larger 1,000 litre tank. They’ve attached a small 12V water pump and hose fitting to their rainwater collection system and haven’t had to use mains water for their garden or car washing for ten years now
• Steve Tsai also shared this link to a Bunnings water saving webpage – the devices includes shower head timers, tap flow restrictors and aerators

Make it a mission to save 20 litres a day

Watercare’s message is to ‘make it a mission to save 20 litres a day, every day’ – that’s just two full buckets a day. It’s not that hard. Use the plug and don’t leave the tap running when you clean your teeth, wash your hands or do your dishes; use the half flush option, shower with a bucket and use the ‘grey water’ to wash your car, rinse your dishes, flush the loo and water your indoor plants (and if you’ve got a storage tank or unused wheelie bin, you can collect the water to use on your garden when we get the next dry period).

How to get your kids involved

Water saving can be even more challenging at home if your kids aren’t engaged with why this is important and the consequences. As Sonia D’Mello shared in the tips above, she took her daughter on an outing to the Waitākeres to view the Nihotupu reservoir – this really turned around her understanding and commitment to water saving.

One of Sonia’s pics from her trip to Nihotupu reservoir with her daughter – more posts and pics on Yammer

If you can’t get out to Honua or the Waitākere ranges to view the dams, there’s some impactful footage of the ‘before and after’ of Auckland dams in this NZ Herald video.

Another idea to try is to get your kids to track and record your water usage, if your meter is easy and safe to access. Get them to check it each week and record the result, using stars to capture a good week, and talk about a not so successful week and why.

Teens – Steve Tsai also shared this Eco Matters resource. Get your teens to review it and ask for their feedback on what ideas they’ve read about would help them with saving water – the shower timer could be a good starting point!

We want to hear from campus water warriors!

The Sustainability team want to hear what you’re doing during your working day to save water, what you’ve found, how they can help and who has already implemented a water saving programme. We want to inspire everyone on campus to save water so please share your ideas by posting below or on Yammer. We’ll capture and share your feedback in our next ‘water super heroes’ Nest story and report on how we’re progressing with our water saving mission.

More info:

• Check our last update for Watercare’s ‘Save 20 litres a day, every day’, and for more tips: Superheroes save water: Why we need to get involved in water conservation now and for the longer term»
• Water for life.org.nz
• Watercare – Drought response

Superhero tips:

Make it your mission to save 20 litres a day, every day!

          Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth or shave. Amount of water saved: 4 litres

Spend a minute less in the shower. Amount of water saved: 12 litres

Our water crisis is moving to an alert system similar to COVID-19

Watercare has set up an alert system to deal with the ongoing water crisis. There are four stages, we’re currently at 1, with increasing restrictions based on falling lake water storage levels.

Stage 1: Applies to the ban on using hoses and water blasters outdoor, a call for four-minute showers and a 410 litres a day usage target that came into effect on 16 May 2020 – we are currently meeting this usage target

Stage 2: As above but the Aucklanders will be asked to save 20 litres of water a day and businesses must cut water use by at least 10%

Stage 3: The water saving requirement will increase to 30 litres per person and at least a 15% cut to business usage

Stage 4: The savings per person increases to 40 litres a day and at least a 30% cut in water use by businesses. Lawns, gardens and parks can only be watered by non-potable (drinking) water at Level 3 and Level 4

These restrictions will cover suburban Auckland from Waiwera to Drury, as well as Pukekohe, Patumahoe, Clarks Beach, Glenbrook Beach and Huia Village. They are expected to be in place until Autumn 2021.

What if we can’t make these water savings?

If we are unable to make the necessary savings, Watercare has stated that they do have the option of “turning off the taps” and making people line up for water at hydrants.