World Water Day is Today!

Residential Life

UoL Sustainability

Posted 3 days ago

Sat 22 Mar, 2025 08:03 AM

What you can do in your hall to save water?

Today, 22 March, is World Water Day.

Did you know?

Whilst 70% of our planet is water, only 1% is available to us for our daily needs. Water is incredibly precious and scarce, even if sometimes we act as though there is an endless supply available to us.

Globally, 1 in 10 people still do not have access to clean water – instead needing to use dirty water for drinking, cooking and cleaning.

Water keeps every system in the body functioning properly, from transporting nutrients around your body to controlling your temperature. It can even help you to have healthier skin.

Research shows that 94% of people underestimate the amount of water they use per day. Over a fifth believe their household uses less than 20 litres per day when the average usage per person is 152 litres per day.

How much do we need to drink to stay healthy?

Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 50% to 70% of your body weight.

Most adults need about 2 to 2.5 litres of fluid a day, which is around 8 glasses.  This does vary from person to person, based on how much fluid your body loses each day (e.g. as pee or sweat). Plain water is, of course, the best source of healthy hydration. Whilst soft drinks will provide hydration, be careful about excess sugar intake.

What you can do in your hall to save water:

Have a shorter shower

The average shower uses approximately 150 litres of water, which is more water than most people drink in a month. Shaving even 30 seconds – 1 minute off your shower could save a lot of water.

Report drips and leaks to management/reception

Turn off taps when washing up or brushing your teeth

Wash clothes less often (especially outer layers that aren’t directly getting sweat on them) and do a full load of clothes every time as the washing machines use a lot of water.

They might see like small changes, but you could save a significant volume of water and help to move us towards a culture that recognises water scarcity.

Preserving water (preventing ‘resource depletion’) and avoiding ‘water pollution’ are identified as environmental impacts in the University’s ISO40001 accredited Environmental Management System.