My Water Wise Project

By Anna#

Week 1

I found that we used the most water when in the evening, when Alistair had a bath, Miriam and I had showers, and the dishwasher was turned on. We also used a lot of water on days when the washing machine and dishwasher were used the most.

My Water Wise Plan

My plan was to:o Limit showers to four minutes,o Use the dishwasher and washing machine on the

eco setting only ando Limit Alistair’s bath to 10 centimetres of water

What My Family Thought of It“I think it’ll work” -Mum“The dish washer works best when it’s on the normal setting, but it’s a pretty good plan”- Dad“Four-minute showers? I can do that, but don’t you dare make it lower than three”- Miriam“Can I watch ABC kids now? Please?” –Alistair

What I Thought of It“I think that I found the best ways for us to reduce our water use. I think it work, as long as Dad doesn’t use the dishwasher and washing machine on whatever setting he thinks is the best, but I may have to reduce the shower times, or find something else to implement. Apart from that, I’m pretty confident about it.”

Week 2

This week, I found that the average water use per day in our house went down by just over 50L, to 387L, from 440L. We still used the most water in the evenings, so I adjusted my plan to three-minute showers instead of four.What My Family Thought of My Changes

“It’ll work better now, I think” - Mum“You do know the dishwasher works best on the normal setting, don’t you? It’s probably going to be more effective, though.” – Dad“Three minute showers? I need my long showers!!!” – Miriam“ Can you play cars with me?” -Alistair

What I Thought of My Changes“I think we can reduce our water use even more than what we already have. Two-minute showers would have been better, but then Miriam would have ignored the timer, and had a longer shower anyway, probably longer than three or four minutes. And Dad, don’t you dare use the dishwasher on anything other than the eco setting!”

Week 3

This week was the worst week in terms of our water use. The daily average went up to almost 500L (488L). I think this was because Mum started training for a half-marathon with her sisters and sister-in-law, and Mimi and I came along to their training sessions in Kings’ Park and Lake Monger early in the morning, so we were having two showers per day instead of one. The shower timer also broke half-way through the week when Alistair dropped it several times. I also think that people just got bored with my plan, especially Dad, who used the dishwasher on the normal setting most of the time.

What My Family Thought on How My Plan Worked“It was a good plan, but it wasn’t implemented very

well.” –Mum

“I had three-minute showers, but I used the dishwasher on the normal setting because it washes better.” – Dad“See what I mean?”-Mum“It was pretty hard to implement. It takes three minutes for the shower to warm up, and I got bored with short showers and had long ones sometimes” – Miriam“Can I watch Cars (a Disney/Pixar movie, and Alistair’s current favourite) on the T.V?” – Alistair