With a heatwave in progress, as a Sustainable Crediton supporter we realise that saving resources, such as water, is second-nature to you so here are some simple tips for saving water:

• use a water butt
• re-use washing-up or bath water on the garden
• let the lawn look a little brown for a while
• don't overfill the kettle
• turn taps off when brushing teeth
• put a bottle of water in the fridge to avoid drawing unnecessary water until a cool temperature is reached
• have fixed any leaking taps
• take showers rather than baths using a modern energy-efficient shower head
• only take a three minute shower which is more than enough time.

There are lots of useful ideas on this topic in numerous websites - just Google 'water saving tips'.

There are some cheap and cheerful gadgets available that enable you to make a few more savings, e.g. a Hippo bag or 'Save-a-Flush- bag in a cistern will reduce the amount used on each flush for cisterns that are more than 10 years old. A showersave device adds more air to reduce water consumption without reducing the experience (may not be suitable for electric showers), tap aerators add more air to the water flow and a timer is a handy device in the shower.

If any of these sound useful then all of these are available for FREE from South West Water (yes something free from SWW)!!

If you want to calculate how much water you use every month then try this water calculator.