Water is a vital resource whose availability can change quickly in times of shortage. When reserves begin to run low, you need to save and ration water intelligently, whether during a climate emergency, natural disaster or prolonged economic crisis.
Assess Your Daily Water Consumption Accurately
For rationing to be effective, first identify where your water is being used each day in your home. In France, one person uses an average of 149 litres of drinking water per day according to ADEME (the French ecological transition agency). By measuring your usage (showers, washing up or garden watering), you can immediately identify sources of waste.
Track your consumption daily using a household meter or an app. It can also help you save money throughout the year.
Prioritise Essential Uses During a Prolonged Crisis
When war breaks out or a crisis escalates, not every use of water carries the same importance. According to Red Cross recommendations, drinking water for hydration should be the priority for the whole family.
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that you should allow at least 3 litres per person per day for drinking and cooking. Other uses, such as washing and laundry, should be reduced to the strict minimum or replaced with alternatives.
For example, use wet wipes instead of showering every day to reduce water consumption.
Install a Rainwater Collector to Improve Your Reserves
You can significantly increase your independence with this simple solution. Install a collector on your guttering to gather nearly 600 litres of water during moderate rainfall.
This additional resource is ideal for watering plants or outdoor cleaning, allowing you to preserve drinking water for more important uses. According to the association Eau & Rivières de Bretagne, this type of installation can reduce dependence on mains water by up to 50%.
Store this water in opaque tanks to reduce health risks. If you need to drink it, use an activated carbon filter to remove 99.99% of heavy metals and parasites.
Recycle Greywater to Reduce Waste
Greywater comes from sinks, showers, baths and laundry, and is usually discharged into drains. However, it is possible to reuse it safely, particularly for outdoor cleaning and toilet flushing. In France, a family tends to discard nearly 100 litres of greywater every day.
Weeplow offers effective solutions for naturally purifying water. In addition, our activated carbon filter does not require electricity and is easy to carry. With a two-year lifespan, it can be used throughout a crisis. It helps remove pesticides, viruses and PFAS, providing cleaner water for consumption.
Ration Water with Efficient Equipment
Water-saving shower heads can halve the flow rate, reducing usage from 15 litres per minute to just 7 litres per minute. Dual-flush toilets can reduce water use by 40% compared with traditional models.
Widespread installation of this equipment during drought periods could, for example, help avoid severe water cuts in rural areas. Although these systems can be expensive initially, they often pay for themselves through long-term savings.
Watch Out for Leaks at Home
Leaks are a significant source of wasted drinking water. A study by Veolia found that a small leaking tap can waste 120 litres of water per day, or 43,000 litres per year.
Check your plumbing regularly: toilets, taps and visible pipework. The faster you detect a suspicious leak, the more money and water you save. Simply replacing a seal can prevent thousands of litres being wasted unnecessarily.
Store Water to Prevent Shortages
In recent years, heatwaves have become more frequent in France, and groundwater reserves are struggling to replenish. This leads to droughts of varying severity, particularly for farmers. It therefore makes sense to prepare for shortages by storing drinking water.
Store at least 30 litres of water per person, which represents roughly 10 days of average autonomy. Use sealed containers stored away from direct sunlight. Many civil organisations such as UNICEF recommend adding a mild preservation product such as colloidal silver to reduce bacterial growth.
Why Ration Water?
Successfully reducing water use also depends on collective effort. Raise awareness among family, friends and neighbours. During the historic drought of 2023 in Occitanie, several villages were forced to cut drinking water consumption by more than 40%. This was made possible through collective mobilisation.
Adopt this approach now. It can help save money and also prepare you if you ever face a crisis or war. More than a precious resource, water is a true treasure that we must protect as much as possible.
