During the dry season, when the sun is up, and the rivers dry up, water consumption in our home significantly goes up. At times like that, you’ll need to shower more often, to keep yourself cool and refreshed.

But the activities we carry out in our homes go a long way to affect the broader ecosystem around us, and most importantly, our wildlife. As the rivers dry up, the wildlife continues to lose access to water, and how we used water at home, increases how they’re affected.

There’s the need to ensure our rivers don’t run dry around the year and encourage activities that’ll help increase the availability of water for our wildlife. How we use water at home, and other conscious activities we engage in are some of the ways we can contribute.

1.  Shower Time

It’s a common practice among many to run the shower for long and chill under the running water to cool heat. Same with when brushing our teeth, we mostly leave the tap running while brushing.

These practices in our homes are enormous sources of water wastage. The longer the showers and taps run, the more our rivers lose water, and our wildlife loses a valuable quantity of water it can survive on.

Consciousness is the most effective tool in tackling water wastage at home. You may consider installing an eco-friendly shower head and shower timer in your bathrooms. Most importantly, switch the tap off when it’s out of use.

2.  Using the Washing Machine

The washing machine and dishwashers are other home appliances that contribute immensely to water loss in our homes. To reduce or eliminate the water wasted by these appliances requires deliberate actions.

How you load your washing machines and dishwashers makes a lot of difference. Ensure you pack your washing machines to its full capacity, before washing. You’ll be conserving more water than when you load them half full.

It’s important to regulate water usage in our homes. Ensure your family only uses the quantity necessary. Every extra liter of water wasted at home reduces what’s available for the wildlife to survive on.

3.  Water for Your Garden

When the dry season comes, everything is affected by the heat of the sun. The gardens and plants equally begin to dry up. There’s the need to water the garden to help keep the plants fresh and green.

But watering the plants requires running water from the tap, which further reduces the availability of water. An alternative to using tap water to achieve the same purpose would go a long way to make water available for our wildlife.

Consider installing a water tank to collect water during the raining season and use them in your garden when the need arises. If you store rainwater using shoddy materials, it can pick up minerals that’ll make it unhealthy. But storing and preserving rainwater using a sleek material would ensure your harvested rainwater remains soft and healthy even for home use.

4.  Use Water Wells

Consider using wells as an alternative source of water supply for your home. It’s already common in areas far from town and not serviced by the state water supply systems. Underground wells are a useful alternative for consistent water supply.

An underground water well can either be a dug well, a driven well, or a drilled well. The drilled well is the most modern of all. Water gotten from the well may be adjudged as hard, salty water, but if appropriately treated, it can serve any desired purpose.

You can easily shop for water softeners available on the market and install. It’ll help ensure that the water available for use in your home is healthy, soft water. Ensure you do adequate research about water softeners, and choose the best on the list you draw up for yourself.

5.  Ponds Around Your Home

If you dig ponds or pools around your home, you’ll attract a variety of wildlife during the dry season, and sustain vegetation around. Animals like turtle, lizard, frogs, birds, etc. will often find their way to the pool, in search of some water.

You can dig the soil to make a pond, or use rubber liner, or a preformed pool. Either way, you’ll be able to harvest and store water in the open and attract wildlife to the relaxed environment of your pool.

Bring your pond close to your garden, so it’ll serve you the dual purpose of sustaining your crops and providing a home for the variety of wildlife. A pool will contribute significantly to preserve our wildlife and provide you with a fascinating view of beauty.

Conclusion

Wildlife preservation is an essential aspect of the conservation of our ecosystem. A critical step towards achieving water conservation is to reduce our dependence and use of water from our rivers during the dry season to ensure the availability of water for the wildlife.