FOR the past few weeks, a leprechaun has been practising his Riverdance steps on my window ledge. Either that or the gutter is leaking. And now the heavy drops of rain have been joined by the sound of a leaking tap in the bathroom. It began as a mono
tonous drip, developed into a trickle and is now threatening to turn into a torrent.
As well as the Guantanamo-esque psychological torture of listening to this all night, I know enough about the importance of water conservation to be racked by guilt too.
Is it me, or is this column turning into a confessional? Forgive me, readers, for I have sinned (again). It's not all my fault, though. I have phoned at least half a dozen plumbers, but like the scared townsfolk being terrorised by bandits in a Western and waiting for a lone cowboy to turn up, I am still holding out for a hero. There was no pun intended by the cowboy reference, by the way.
Apparently, if the dripping tap was to go unfixed for a year (unlikely, but you never know), it would mean 5,500 litres of water down the drain.
Now I know what you're thinking. Water conservation? In Scotland? Have I looked out of the window recently? I know. We're not exactly short of H2O. But if you're ecologically minded, you might be interested to know that 5% of our greenhouse-gas emissions come from treating and pumping water to our homes, and then heating it. Put another way, the average family's annual water consumption results in as much CO2 as two transatlantic flights.
Waterwise (
www.waterwise.org.uk) claims each person in the UK uses about 150 litres of water every day, and in Scotland consumption has risen by 6% during the past 20 years.
Despite the projected fall in our population, the total domestic demand for water is expected to rise, and if climate change makes Scotland warmer, Waterwise predicts an increase in pressure on our water resources.
When it comes to motivating the masses to change their habits, the best approach is usually to explain how being eco-friendly can save us money.
But, unburdened by water meters as most of us are, those who wash their cars three times a week pay the same as those who painstakingly measure out exactly enough liquid for each cup of tea.
So what about hot water? With ever-rising fuel bills, we might well see more people using aerated shower heads and tap fittings (to reduce flow) and investing in shower-timers.
My dad was way ahead of his time on this front – if he decided one of his offspring was wasting too much hot water in the shower, he'd simply switch off the boiler to incite an icy blast.
Waterwise has details of all sorts of water-saving gadgets, and there's now a Waterwise Marque awarded to the most efficient products on the market. And what would it mean if we all changed our ways in the water-use stakes?
If everyone in Scotland who leaves the tap on when brushing their teeth stopped, 47 million litres of water a year would be saved. As for those dripping taps driving their owners slowly mad, if they were all fixed, it would save 15,400 litres of water a day.
I know you won't believe this, but during the course of writing this column, the plumber turned up – although he did look at me strangely when I congratulated him for saving the planet, one leaky washer at a time.
