"In the driest state, on the driest continent..."

Those of us who have lived in South Australia for any period of time know that water is a precious resource. Even when we're not in drought it's not to be wasted. So, why oh why does the water usage on my bill keep creeping up???

I've been so pleased with the cutbacks we've managed to make to our electricity consumption but am at a loss to explain why the water usage has been on the increase over the past six months. I can only think of two factors which may have changed. Everything else is equal. The dishwasher and washing machine are being run in the same manner they have been for several years so it's not that. In fact, I've tried to cutback by trialling shorter cycles on both. My husband and I haven't increased our shower times; we're even using a four-minute timer. That leaves the length of Teenage Daughter's and Teenage Son's showers. The former has a lot of hair to wash and condition, and when one adds leg and underarm shaving into the mix, her showers can be long. Teenage Son hasn't been showering for that long, having preferred baths when he was younger. Once in the shower, he has a tendency to use the time to improve his singing skills. He's not singing Bohemian Rhapsody but he can still spend quite some time in there. He also tends to be a keen observer and I would not be surprised if he stood there watching some fascinating aspect of water flow and how to alter its course. This is speculation, of course.

The other reason for the last three month's increase could well be our veggie patch, which requires water several times a week in the heat. Whilst I don't like the idea of using a lot of water, I have to say that we are growing the best tasting cucumbers and tomatoes I've ever eaten. My taste buds have an orgiastic experience every time I pop one of our cherry tomatoes into my mouth.

This is something we need to continue to work on, obviously, to get to the bottom of the problem and sort it out.

Cheers.