Water smart actions

Water is essential in our day-to-day life but to manage our water resources sustainably we all need to take care of this precious resource. You have many opportunities every day to be water smart in your home, garden and business. Find out some tips on how you can be more water smart.

Actions in the home

Consider how you can be water smart at home whether you are washing the dishes, having a shower, brushing your teeth, drinking water, washing your clothes, watering the plants and washing the car. These ideas may help you to preserve our water and save you money:

• bathrooms and toilets use 40% of household water use. By updating your shower head to a three star AAA rating, you can save 11 litres of water per minute. If you install an aerator on your taps, you can save 13 litres per day without losing pressure
• choose cleaning products that are promoted as green, environmentally friendly, chemical free or safe for the environment, and minimise their usage
• dispose of oil, paint, cleaners or chemicals at any Council transfer station, rather than down the drain and into our stormwater system
• choose water efficient appliances. On average a front loader washing machine can save 50% water than a traditional top loader. They also use less detergent and energy which will also save you money
• design your home and garden to minimise impacts of flooding and stormwater run off. Use Council's interactive Flood Awareness Maps to help with this
• reduce evaporation by investing in a pool cover. It can reduce evaporation and potentially save you up to 200 litres per day. Also, plant some shade trees around your pool to keep it cool, reduce evaporation and help protect it from wind, which may also cause more evaporation
• use a rainwater tank or downpipe diverter to top-up your pool.

Actions in the garden

Use these actions to have a water smart and sustainable garden:

• limit how often you wash your car and when you do, wash it on the lawn
• use fertilisers sparingly and lightly water into the garden after application. Do not use pesticides if rain is expected
• compost your garden waste. Dumping it in creeks or bushland can spread weeds and increase nutrients that promote algal growth in waterways
• install a rainwater tank for your garden watering needs
• consider a drip irrigation system as an affordable and easy to install device to help your plants
• create depressions and gullies in your garden to collect and absorb rainfall
• pick up your pet’s droppings, seal them in a bag and deposit them in a waste bin
• use ground-cover plants and mulch to prevent top soils washing away and reduce erosion
• plant more natives that are more suitable for our climate and require less water.

Find out more about how you can plant and look after a sustainable garden.

More actions

Water smart actions can be encouraged outside the home. You can:

• service motor vehicles regularly and watch for leaking oil, brake fluid or other chemicals that leak onto the ground
• join your local creek catchment group
• use litter bins or take rubbish home with you and ensure you put this into the appropriate bin to dispose of, rather then it ending up in stormwater and into Moreton Bay.

Residential water restrictions

There are no current restrictions on sprinklers or watering times in Brisbane. For more information, visit the Department of Energy and Water Supply website.

Even though there are no restrictions in place, taking steps to use water efficiently inside and outside your home will save you money and will help to preserve our water supply for the future.