How do I reduce my water bill?

Water bills respond to a small number of changes because household use is concentrated: toilets, showers and washing between them account for the majority. Leaks are worth checking first because they're invisible and can be enormous.

What you'll need

• Water meter reading (optional)
• Efficient shower head (optional)
• Cistern displacement device (optional)

Step by step

1. Check for leaks: read the meter, use no water for two hours, and read it again.Any change means a leak somewhere. This is the single highest-value check and it's free.
2. Check every toilet with the food colouring test.A few drops in the cistern; if colour appears in the pan without flushing, the flush valve is leaking. This is the most common invisible waste.
3. Fit a water-efficient shower head if you have a mains-pressure shower.They can substantially reduce flow without a noticeable difference in the shower. Not suitable for gravity-fed systems with low pressure.
4. Shorten showers — a few minutes less makes a measurable difference.Showers are typically among the largest single uses in a modern household.
5. Fit a cistern displacement device in older toilets.Many water companies supply them free. Not needed in modern dual-flush cisterns.
6. Only run dishwashers and washing machines with full loads.Modern eco cycles use considerably less water than a half-empty standard cycle.
7. Fix dripping taps.A drip a second is thousands of litres a year, and the fix is usually a washer costing pence.
8. Check whether a water meter would save you money.As a rough guide, if you have more bedrooms than people, a meter usually costs less. Most suppliers offer a trial period with the right to switch back.

Tips

• Check with your water company for free water-saving devices — many supply shower heads, cistern devices and tap aerators at no cost.
• A water butt for the garden removes garden watering from your metered supply entirely.
• Watering the garden with a hose or sprinkler is one of the largest discretionary uses. A watering can targets the water where it's needed.
• In many regions you can switch to a meter and revert within a trial period if it doesn't save money — check your supplier's terms.

Common mistakes

• Not checking for leaks — A leaking toilet is silent and can waste hundreds of litres a day. It's the largest avoidable cost in many households.
• Fitting a restrictive shower head to a gravity-fed system — Low-pressure systems need a compatible head; restrictors can reduce an already-weak shower to a trickle.
• Ignoring a dripping tap — It seems trivial and adds up to thousands of litres a year.
• Switching to a meter without estimating first — For a household with more people than bedrooms, a meter can cost more. Estimate before switching.

Questions people ask