HOUSEHOLDS on a water meter can make big savings on their bills with a few nifty gadgets.
Most of these tools cost less than a tenner and you can even get some of them free from your water company.
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If you don’t pay a fixed amount for your water, your bill is directly related to how much water you use.
Cutting back on water usage will lower your bill and, as an added bonus, often cut gas and electricity bills because you aren’t heating as much water.
Stephanie Fox is head of water efficiency engagement at not for profit company Waterwise.
Here she explains the gadgets that are worth getting in your home.
Water butts
These gadgets fit to your home and collect rain water.
Over the course of the year, you can collect up to 85,000 litres of water that’d otherwise end up on the roof.
Saving just 5,000 litres of water a year could slash your annual bill by £15.
The water collected is ideal for watering your garden when you would otherwise use an outside tap or hose.
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You could also use the water for filling up water for wildlife, washing your patio or washing your car.
You can pick up a water butt for around £30-40 from DIY stores such as Homebase or Screwfix.
A water efficient shower head
Big shower heads use up to 15 litres of water a minute.
But a water efficient head will take this down to 6-8 litres – almost half as much.
A four-person household could save as much as £70 a year on gas for water heating by switching.
You could also save a further £115 a year on water bills if they have a water meter.
Many water companies give customers water efficient showerheads – check with yours to see if you can get one for free.
Alternatively, you can buy a new one for around £10.
Keep your shower under four minutes will also help you to save water and therefore money.
It’s calculated that having a shower that is even a minute shorter will save £128 a year.
Save the flush
If you have an older style push flush on your toilet, you can save 1.2 litres of water with every flush by using a Save the Flush or Hippo bag.
This could save you 50% to 60% of the water every use.
These gadgets simply fit inside your system displacing some of the water.
Again, many water companies give these to customers for free, check directly with your supplier to see what’s on offer.
Modern toilets are more likely to be dual flush toilets – but many of these systems can leak wasting water and costing you money.
If you notice a continuous flow of water into your toilet then your system is leaking.
You can get a qualified plumber to help repair it, or look in the system and check there is no build-up of grit around the flush, which can stop it from functioning properly.
You can check if you have a leak by putting some toilet paper at the back of the pan and leaving it overnight if it’s wet or flushed away, your system is most likely leaking.
Many people often push both buttons when they don’t need to – or use the bigger flush when they don’t need to.
Correctly using the smaller flush can save you £100 a year.
Water efficient aerator for your tap
If you have a leaky tap or need to upgrade, look for a more water efficient model.
Modern taps typically use less water than older taps.
If you don’t want or need to change your tap you can fix an aerator to the end of the nozzle which will make it seem like you’re using more water – when you’re actually using less.
These gadgets are easy to fit yourself and again is something that water companies may give you for free.
If not you can buy them from DIT or bathroom companies from around a fiver.
Experts say they could save households around £36 a year.
A bucket and a sponge
Washing your car or windows with a hose can use a typical 400 to 480 litres of water helping to push up your bill.
But using a bucket and sponge instead will use far less water.
In fact, if you were to wash your car once a month and swapped a hose for a bucket you would typically only use 32 litres.
That’s based on a four buckets per car average.
Most of us will already have a bucket at home but if you don’t, you can pick them up from the likes of B&Q for just £1.
A trigger hose
If you are using a hose to water the garden or wash your car, consider attaching a trigger hose to the end.
These little gadgets cost less than £10 from DIY or gardening shops and allow you to control the output.
It means the water isn’t continuously running and you can turn the water on and off as you need it.
