Every Drop Counts

Simply Washrooms and The Rivers Trust have joined forces to raise awareness around two key issues: responsible waste disposal and water conservation. By committing to more river-friendly behaviours in our bathrooms we can all contribute to improving the health of our freshwater environments.

Bathroom waste

Our rivers are the lifeblood of our communities. They offer clean drinking water, recreational spaces, and critical wildlife habitats. Unfortunately, these vital ecosystems are under constant threat due to the improper disposal of non-biodegradable materials into our drainage systems. Across the UK, around 300,000 blockages occur every year, costing an estimated £100 million to fix. When sewers and drains get blocked, it can lead to flooding and pollution from untreated waste. So remember, what goes in the loo could end up in a river near you!

Water use

Did you know that we are using too much drinking water? In the UK, we use on average 146 litres of water per person per day. Reducing the amount of drinking water we use to cook, clean, and flush our loos is vital for future water security. If we do nothing, demand for fresh drinking water will outstrip the supply within the next 10 years.

Here are a few simple tips to help you save water (and a few pounds on your bill)

• Turn off the tap when brushing your teeth, a running tap can waste as much as 6 litres of water every minute
• Switch to showers: our baths can hold between 100 and 180 litres of water whilst a 5minute shower uses around 75 litres.
• Fill-up your washing machine or dishwasher before turning it on.
• Reuse water: sometimes water can be reused, for example, to clean, mop floors, or water plants
• Fix dripping taps and leaky loos, a dripping tap can waste over 5000 litres of water a year.
• Fit low flow aerators to taps and showers. These add air, maintaining high pressure with less water flow.

What can all of this achieve?

When it comes to saving water, we all have a part to play. How much we each use, and what we put down our drains all have an impact on the health of our rivers, lakes and estuaries.

As well as supporting campaigns to raise awareness of what we can all do, The Rivers Trust works in partnership with others to restore, re-wet and re-wild our rivers so that they can continue to provide for us and for nature. Find out more about our work and other ways you can take action for rivers.