Finding the chase and cutting to it

A drought has been declared here in the UK. At least officially.

What does that mean, when do such declarations get made and is there an end in sight?

There is no definition of what a drought is. A sustained period of no rain, seems vague. Yes, we have had several ‘heat dome’ situations in the UK over the past 12 weeks. Yet ‘hose pipe bans’ only came in late June, early July. Why is it only a drought now?

Even if it wasn’t a drought, is there more I can do to control my costs? I’m one in one of the 60% of homes in England fitted with a water meter, so every drop counts.

Lovely winter.

It was wet and grey, an archetypal British winter, at least here in East Anglia. It meant that our reservoirs were pretty full, with both April and May having their usual amounts of rain. From the end of May through to August, it has been hot. But winter and spring meant the hot weather was buffered by stored water.

We don’t tend to water the garden from mains water. I feel that potable water is for people not for plants. Yet the grass was still green in early July. I remember driving to my parent’s place when I graduated in 1997 and the fields, verges, and gardens being brown in early June. Because of all the rain over early this year, the fields turning brown happened much later this time.

What can I do to help?

Here’s some of the things we’re doing:

Cooking.

Any wasted cooking or drinking water can be used for plants. Cool down water from boiling vegetables to room temp to water plant. Not only saving the waste water, the trace elements from the vegetables help give plants a bit of a boost.

If you have modern pipework, fill glasses and pots right from the start of letting the water flow. If not, catch that water for plants and cleaning.

Cleaning.

Washing up typically uses more water than a dishwasher, but there are things you can do. Washing knives, cooking utensils, and cutlery first in shallow water. The water will be very soapy, so rinse off into the bowl or sink. That provides more water for the bigger items. Save up to do a day’s washing up in one go, rather than many smaller washes during the day. Save a jug of cleanish dish water to wipe down the surfaces from cooking.

Fill up machines. Or use half loads. Keeping yourself clean, and deodorised, keeps your clothes clean.

Windows and cars just need to be useable not spotless and shiny.

I use a steam cleaner. One litre of water cleans four sinks, one bath, 2 windows, 5 floors, and one shower.

Gardening.

If a plant is already dead, water is not going to help. Do try to hang in there, what looks dead may just be asleep for the rest of the year. Plants have survival strategies like us.

Do not water grass, it is incredibly resilient, and is likely to pop up green with the next major shower. Be patient. Do not walk on it unless you weigh less than 10kg (22lbs – 1 stone 8lbs).

Hygiene.

Do not flush if you just urinate. When South Africa had a long drought a few years ago, they had a motto. ‘If it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down’. It sounds gross, but we’ve been doing this for a while and it does make a difference to our water consumption.

Showers over baths, goes without saying. But turning off the water while you soap and shampoo can save just a little bit more. Waiting for the water to get hot is time I use to wash my feet.

Don’t shower or bath if you’re going to the gym later. If you think about it, you’re getting clean just to get dirty… Your skin will thank you too.

We’re not at the stage where you put a bucket in the shower to use to flush the toilet for when it’s brown… But ‘grey water’ from baths can also be used for this purpose. Before you empty the bath, collect a couple of buckets. Half a bucket covers the yellow flush, three quarters, a brown flush.

Hands do not need the tap running while you soap. Levered taps allow you to turn off the mixer or single taps to lather and rub for the recommended 20 seconds, before rinsing. Same for brushing teeth, though of course that’s two minutes!

NB: South Africa brought in many measures as the country survived a two and half year drought. When a drought starts, it becomes difficult to predict when it will end.

There has to be a better way?

Harvesting water yourself to be able to use at such times is not a new idea. Some take this to the final stage and purify the water for drinking, but toilets can use grey water with little processing required for rain water collection. I know one family who used the grey water for washing their clothes too. All you have is a storage tank, often underground, with your drainage going in to it from your roof, then a grey water circuit feeding the toilets and utility area. The owner was passionate about sustainable living, so sunk a water storage tank into the back garden.

If you really have the space, you can process your sewage too. Often seen in rural, off-grid, Grand Designs (Channel 4 in the UK) homes, they can filter it through SUDS (sustainable drainage systems), which then feeds reed beds to ‘polish’ the water to near potable standards. I saw a great example of this during the Carbon Charter Summer Event 2026, held at Pilgrims Barn, in Haughley, Suffolk.

But with a 6,000 litre tank, seems out of reach of many. Actually, such tanks are only 5.5m2 in area, and about 1.2m deep, often buried underground, this is an easy task for many new builds. What is difficult is their reed bed and swimming pond, which were bigger than our back garden and many of the plots previous houses have sat on!

But doing this for several houses in a new housing development would be achievable, much like ground source heat systems.

I love living in East Anglia, but we have very little rain in a good rainy year. We’re classed as semi-arid. Many more homes are being planned in the area, and without real thought about how that works in terms of SUDS and water reclamation, it is not going to be possible. Were you aware that water and sewage companies do not get involved in planning decisions until very late in the process, in England?

Apart from saving water waste, you haven’t talked about how you are doing?

Our smart water meter was fitted in March, and we have used it to try and be careful with water. We clean ourselves, our house, our plates, and our food, cook with it, etc.
Two adults over July used 6,976 litres. That makes our usage per person 112.5 litres a day.

The average usage in the UK is 139 – 142 litres. To ensure we have enough water for everyone, the Environment Agency is aiming to get down to 110 litres per person per day. We’re approaching that target but still have a way to go. Our usage was 117 litres per person per day in May. It’s not as good as June, which was 85 litres per day but we did spend 6 days away from home on holiday.

What do you do to save water? Any tips or tricks that keep life comfortable while reducing your needs on the essential liquid for life?