Did you know the average person in the UK uses 150 litres of water a day? This takes into account cooking, cleaning, washing and flushing. By making small lifestyle changes you can reduce water waste. The key to water efficiency is reducing waste, not restricting use. Here are some simple ways to be more water-efficient.

Gleaming gnashers – Turn off the tap while brushing teeth. A running tap can waste over six litres per minute. If everyone in England and Wales did this, we could save 180 mega litres a day – enough to supply nearly 500,000 homes. Read more

I’m often told that I look way younger than I really am.

Now, I have no scientific proof to this fact, but I think (I really do!) a large piece of this has to do with how much water I drink.

I drink a lot of water – about 5 liters a day.

Don’t worry, I’m not saying you have to drink this much.

Your number is largely personal and depends on a few factors: the climate where you live; how much you exercise; if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding; medical conditions; and the list goes on.

But, a general guideline for an average healthy adult, according to The Institute of Medicine, is 2.2 liters  of water a day for women and 3 liters a day for men.

If you sometimes find plain water boring, try one of my personal faves – hint water or hint fizz – 0 sugar, 0 diet sweeteners – nothing but water + fruit oils and essences.

hint  was actually created for folks who didn’t like water, but didn’t want to drink sugary drinks or anything with diet sweeteners.

If you need more “ammo” on why to drink h20, here are 5 benefits of drinking water that may have you changing your mind. Read more

We all know that water is good for us and we should be drinking copious amounts of it every day. Well, maybe not copious amounts but enough to flush and hydrate us.

If you are a soda, coffee or juice drinker all day, then you may not be getting enough water into your system. Not to mention the added sugar, chemicals, and other interesting ingredients that are part of those beverages. Consuming water regularly throughout the day provides many benefits. These are just a few: Read more

Water power is the backbone of Alpine countries’ energy supply. Despite its important role in Europe’s energy shift, further development of hydroelectric infrastructure in Austria and Switzerland is on hold.

One of several water dams on Grimsel Pass in the Swiss Alps. Hydropower used to be profitable, but now revenues have shrunk drastically. Credit: Ray Smith/IPS.

On sunny, windy summer days in Germany, when millions of solar panels soak up the sun and wind turbines run at full speed, the German electricity network can’t cope with the overcapacity. Especially on Sundays, production often exceeds demand. The result is low prices, at times even negative ones; which means customers get paid for buying electricity. Read more

The Commission for Energy Regulation has just published the cost of water to Irish households, with charging to begin 1st October 2014.

Some key points about the charges:

• Householders will pay €2.44 per thousand litres of water, doubling to €4.88 to cover waste water also.
• Charging for all homes will be capped for nine months and those on boil-water notices for 24 hours will not be charged for water supply.
• Under the CER plan, all customers will have their total water charges capped at the un-metered or assessed charge for nine months
• The assessed charge for water and wastewater for a one adult household is €176 or €278 for two adults, with children deemed to be free.
• Those with water unfit for human consumption – on a boil water notice for just 24 hours – will get a 100% discount on the water supply element of the charge, but will still have to pay for waste water if on a public sewerage system.
• The CER says the average charge will be €238 per annum and it has cut the costs Irish Water can recover between now and the end of 2016 by more than 8% to just over €2bn.

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