Simon and Alison Fearby are reaping the financial rewards of cutting their water consumption in recent months.

With a large garden and two children Gabriel, 4, and Ellie, seven months the Fearbys found they were using more water than they desired.

So they set about implementing some small changes in the garden and around the home to become more environmentally friendly.

"We're just trying to minimise our usage," said Mr Fearby, who runs the popular @2340weather Twitter account.

"The savings from not using so much water have been good, because everything else is going up in price."

Gone are the water-greedy exotic plants and flowers common to many local gardens and in their place is an array of hardy, but attractive, native species.

Their lawn now consists of a specially bred drought- resistant grass that, against the odds, has remained green during the dry winter without any watering.

And a large plastic bucket is kept in the shower to collect water that can be used to bathe Gabriel or for other purposes, such as watering pot plants.

The results from these measures and more have been stark, with the Fearbys' consumption falling from about 600 kilolitres to just 82 kilolitres during the last billing period.

Mr Fearby said he also had plans afoot to make even greater use of his household's grey water through a pump system in the future.