With the UK heatwave forecast to continue for the foreseeable future, there are some serious considerations around how we can all use less water.

Constantly depleting supplies

Our blue planet is covered in so much water that it’s easy to take it for granted and assume there’s a never-ending supply. But the truth is different. Water supplies aren’t distributed evenly across the planet and it can be very difficult to transport large quantities to where they’re most desperately needed.

At the same time, the amount of water we use daily as a species is increasing. Drinking, washing, cooking, growing crops, manufacturing and hundreds of other uses deplete supplies constantly. And as the global population increases and lives longer, the crisis deepens.

The town that ran out of water

Climate change is reducing the amount of accessible water and pollution is making some of what remains unusable. In Cape Town, South Africa there was a stark warning about using more water than demand can supply when the government warned of Day Zero – the day when there would simply be no water left.

Part of the problem is there’s no worldwide system for managing water supplies. It’s managed at a local level and not always efficiently, particularly in areas with the highest demand. One possible solution is for each of us to take responsibility for our own usage. We should stop thinking of water as a never-ending resource and look at how we can cut down the amount we use.

How can soft water help?

Evidence shows that installing a water softener can help in this goal. Softer water enables detergents, washing products and cleaning products to lather more easily and therefore cut down the amount of time you spend standing under the shower trying to get a good lather going. It also eliminates limescale before it can form, so you use less water for cleaning as you spend less time scrubbing away at scale and scum.

One answer which is often discussed in the UK is why we can’t use seawater, given that we’re surrounded by the stuff. But desalination, whereby the salt is removed from seawater to deliver fresh water, is complicated, expensive and uses a huge amount of energy, so isn’t as straightforward as it may seem.