Glenda Way turns on the shower tap and reaches for a bucket, catching drops until the water is warm enough for her wash, according to Reuters. Each day for the past year, Way, 58, has collected a bucket of fresh water which she later pours on the parched rose garden of her home north of Australia's largest city of Sydney. "Everyone is doing it," Way told Reuters. "When you get a whole bucket of water from one shower, it makes you realise how much has been going down the drain." Way is one of a growing army of Australian water misers, who are finding new ways to live with tough restrictions on water use as much of the nation enters its sixth year of drought. Faced with record low dam levels, Australia's major cities have introduced limits on household water use, and city dwellers are sharing the pain of a drought that has devastated rural production and cut 0.5 percent from economic growth. Householders are responsible for only 9 percent of Australia's water consumption but all major cities, except the rain-drenched tropical northern city of Darwin, have imposed restrictions on water use over the past five years. In the suburbs of Sydney, Perth, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane, the lush green lawns which were once a hallmark of Australian suburbia, have mostly turned brown after authorities banned the use of sprinklers. In most areas, public fountains have been turned off, taps have been removed from beachside fresh-water showers, and gardens can only be hand-watered on designated days. In the largest city of Sydney, householders face fines of A$220 ($171) if they are caught watering gardens outside of set times on Wednesdays and Sundays, or if they are spotted hosing down the pavement or yard.
