Flushed away! How to switch to a more efficient lifestyle

Do you turn off your showerhead when not in use? Or turn the tap off when brushing your teeth? If not, then you are increasing the amount of grey water.

It is uncontaminated water that is wasted from domestic processes such as showers, baths and sink taps. Grey water comprises brown and black water.

The former includes sources such as washing machines and dishwashers, while the latter includes urinals and toilets.

Tapping into grey water conservation allows savings of anywhere from 25 to 50 per cent of a home's water bill.

So why pay Dh400 for your monthly water bill when you could switch to a more efficient lifestyle?

By saving up to Dh200 in a month, you could eat out for nearly a week by spending an average of Dh30 for every meal, or buy a bottle of your favourite fragrance and use it for two months, take a budget flight to Jordan or Lebanon or save for two months and donate Dh400 for an eye operation for a child in Africa.

The saving in a year amounts to a whopping Dh2,400! So, how does one stop the water bill from climbing? A simple start would be to place a one-and-a-half litre bottle of water in your toilet's flush tank — it saves an equivalent amount of water every time you flush.

Educating people

Anoop Saxena, deputy general manager in water solutions for Bahri & Mazrouei Trading Company (BMTC) a Dubai-based company that offers eco-friendly engineering solutions, felt the need to work in the water conservation industry when he came to the UAE two years' ago.

He said: "I found this issue very interesting because buildings here are growing by the day. I want people to be aware that buildings should not only be beautiful, but also functional."

Saxena encourages people and businesses to recycle water in every way possible. Turning off your tap is one thing but saving most of your grey water is the way to go. It might sound impossible , but there are ways to do so.

A water recycling unit that helps reuse wasted water would be the ideal solution.
Saxena said: "We have permission from Dewa (Dubai Electricity and Water Authority) to install these units."

He said the units could be installed to work in tandem with the pipe system of a house, or even office. "Such systems could save up to 80 per cent of water."

If the tap is running while you are washing the dishes, the grey water would be transferred to this unit, recycled, and pushed back to the house to be used in places that do not require human contact – such as flushing the toilet.

This would save water, and prevent your wallet from getting thinner, as the recycled water does not come from a new source, so you do not have to pay for it.

However, the unit does run on electricity, which would take away a small part of the savings, along with the initial installation cost of Dh22,000.

However, a well-maintained system would start paying for itself within five years - the average lifespan of the unit is about 15 years.

Additionally Dubai Municipality also has other service providers to install similar water saving solutions in your home, as part of their Sewage Waste Reduction Campaign.

Were you aware of the amount of grey water you could save? Do you have any tips to conserve water around your home? Tell us


By Mohammad Jihad, Community Web Editor
Published: May 03, 2009, 11:09