There are so many things you can do to save water in your business or home, so if you're struggling to analyse and implement all these water saving measures, call in an expert.  The Water Conservation Group can help you assess and implement water saving changes in your home or business through private consultation.

Visit their website to see how they can help you save more water.

• Turn off the tap when brushing teeth.
• When shaving, fill the basin instead of letting water run.
• A quick shower uses less hot water than a full bath tub.
• Consider installing low flow, water efficient showerheads and taps in the home. Clear Solutions Graphic Basin Mixers have built in water flow control (From $355) and their Como Showerhead (Priced from $159.00) use a maximum of 13L/minute.
• Have a full load of washing before starting the machine.
• Avoid dripping by turning off taps firmly. Also fix any leaks you may have.
• Don't use the toilet as a rubbish bin! Flushing away tissues etc is not how to win ecological brownie points. Get a rubbish bin for the bathroom. Clear Solutions Stainless Steel pedal bins start from $59.00.
• Fix any toilet leaks. To check for leaks, put a couple of drops of food colouring in the tank, wait 10 minutes. If without flushing the colour appears in the bowl you have a leak, which is costly and wasteful. Get it fixed.
• Limit the length of your shower. Reducing showering time by 1 minute can save 2,000 gallons of water per year.
• The toilet has the dubious honour of being the largest water consumer in the home, using over 13,000 gallons of fresh water per year. As from approximately a decade ago, all toilets have to, by Australian standards have dual flush action, which is 3L of half flush and 6 L for full flush.

South East Queensland's recent introduction of Stage 5 water restrictions should be a wakeup call for the rest of the country.  Stage 5 water restrictions include:

• Gardens - only water existing gardens with buckets or watering cans on allocated days between 4pm–7pm. You can use tank or grey water at anytime.
• Vehicles - only use a bucket to spot clean mirrors, lights, glass and number plates
• Pools - From 1 July, only top up existing swimming pools from town water as a last resort and only where a rainwater tank or downpipe rainwater diverter is fitted and the premises complies with three of the following - a swimming pool cover, water efficient taps and showerheads, water efficient toilets, water efficient washing machine
• New or renovated pools - may only be filled with water sourced from areas not under Level 5 restrictions (ie brought in by truck)
• High water users – must submit a water use assessment form to audit their water use and identify saving opportunities.

Courtesy of the Qld Water Commission Stage 5 restriction guide.

Tomorrow is world water day, so do something to reduce your water consumption. Here's a few no-brainers:

• Shower for one minute less
• Make sure the dishwasher or washing machine is chocka block before you turn it on
• Only use half flush when flushing the loo.
• Catch your shower water in a bucket and water the garden with it
• Don't leave the tap running when you're brushing your teeth
• Install a water efficient shower head
• Install water efficient tap aerators and flow limiting washers
• Put a brick in your toilet to reduce the amount of water going into the cistern

It's not hard to save water if you're conscious about it, start treating it as a precious resource and you begin to be more careful with how you use it.

Check out the latest issue of ATA's Renew magazine, it's chock full of water saving tips and ideas along with other ways to reduce your energy usage.  See the Renew 98 page for details.

An interesting article in The Age detailing the massive amounts of water used to create electricity. Check out the article - Save precious water at the flick of a switch.

Producing paper takes a LOT of water. Using my very simple maths, based on figures from Friends of The Earth, it takes at least 250 litres of water to produce a ream or 500 sheets of A4 paper.

Generally, we don't use a lot of paper in our office, however, the old fax machine used to receive plenty of fax SMAP. You know the faxes you get offering 7 nights in Thailand for a ridiculously low price or inkjet cartridge replacement offers etc. It used to frustrate me the amount of paper these SPAM faxes would waste – much like junk mail I suppose. But recently we've put an end to all the paper waste created by needless faxes. We've started using a virtual fax service.

Signing up for a virtual fax service gives you a phone number your clients can send normal faxes to. The Virtual Fax Service then converts the faxed document to an electronic format, such as PDF, and forwards it to your email address. This means you can delete non-print worthy faxes just like you'd delete spam. No wasted paper or ink.

Need to send a fax? No problem. Just email the PDF, MS Word or Excel document to an your Virtual Fax Service provider with the recipients phone number and you're done. No printing and no wastage due to unsolicited faxes.

There are plenty of providers to choose from. Here are a couple of Australian virtual fax services to choose from:

• Utbox
• eFax
• Faxem

Move one step closer to the paperless office and use less water, get a virtual fax service.

NewWater offer a great range of Rain Water tanks and an Aqua Reviva greywater systems. Their range of tanks include:

• slimline tanks
• in-slab tanks
• under-house tanks

Check out their website for more.

Sustainable Gardening Australia has some great resources for helping to keep your garden green. Visit the SGA forum for heaps of great tips like sodium free soap and drought tolerant plants.

The City of Melbourne website has a handy water use calculator to help you understand just how much water you're using in the home. Check out Household Water Use Calculator page for details.