South Africa is a Water Scarce Country

Help conserve this precious resource by following these water-saving tips:

In and around the house/business

• Turn the tap off between washing your face, brushing your teeth or shaving.
• Taking a five minute shower a day, instead of a bath, will use a third of the water used in a bath, saving up to 400 litres a week.
• If you prefer a bath, don’t overfill the bath tub.
• Don’t overfill containers for example cooking pots; more energy will be used to heat up the water.
• Reducing the toilet flush volume alone can save 20% of total water consumption.  A simple way of achieving this is to fill a 2 litre cold drink bottle with water and sand (to add weight) and place it in the cistern [commonly known as a ‘toilet hippo’].
• Fix leaking toilets; a leaking toilet can waste up to 100 000 litres of water in a year.
• Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily.  Use ‘grey water’ to flush your toilet.  Grey water is used water from baths, washing machines and other safe sources.
• Do not over-fill or excessively backwash your swimming pool.
• Use a bucket of water rather than a hose to wash your car.
• Farmers must ensure that toxic pesticides are kept away from water sources and streams.
• Factories should become more aware of what they discharge into the wasts water system; heavy metals and other contaminants should be safely disposed of.

In the garden

• Always water your plants during the early morning hours or in the evening when temperatures are cooler.  In South Africa, between 10h00 and 15h00, up to 90% of the water can be lost due to evaporation.
• Focus on indigenous plants and non-water-consumptive exotic plants (but not alien invasive species).
• Water gardens less frequently but water well when you do.
• Be aware that a garden hose can release up to 30 litres of water per minute.
• Rainwater Harvesting: Rainwater can also be collected and profitably stored in water tanks for watering gardens.
• Use greywater to water your garden

Source: Department of Water Affairs, South Africa (educational pamphlet)

Water Rhapsody Water Conservation Systems and Yes Solar Mpumalanga offer eco-friendly rainwater collection systems, rainwater tanks, grey water recycling, swimming pool backwash recycling, water-saving toilet flush mechanisms and high quality Solsquare solar water geysers.

Our grey water systems ensure that even if you take a long shower or have a deep bath, the used water will not be wasted- it will be used for garden irrigation or toilet flushing (why use drinking water for flushing the toilet?!).  Our WWF award-winning rainwater and gray water systems are designed to be integrated into your existing plumbing and are automated for convenient, care-free water conservation.  Water Rhapsody’s Multiflush toilet flushing mechanism replaces your existing water-wasting mechanism; the Multiflush allows complete control of how much water you flush.  Our water-saving swimming pool backwash recycling system ensures that not a drop of water is wasted when you backwash and that no toxic chlorinated water escapes into the environment. See our product demo for a basic introduction to how some of our water conservation systems work.

Contact us for a FREE QUOTE on a solar water heater, rainwater harvesting system (see rainwater FAQ), gray water recycling system or water tank (we are authorized South African JoJo Water Tanks dealers and supply the full range of JoJo water tanks and JoJo tank stands).  Our water tank prices are hard to beat in the Mpumalanga & Limpopo Lowveld.

Water conservation and renewable energy such as solar energy are two issues that affect the global community; make a difference and start conserving water and switch to renewable energy today.