That's the challenge for anyone taking part in this year's Water Night.

Water Night will be held on Thursday, October 21, during National Water Week. Participants go from 12pm to 12am without using their taps - although COVID-safe handwashing has been permitted.

Participants are encouraged to use only one standard bucket of water during those 12 hours.

ALSO MAKING NEWS:

Gardening Australia's Costa Georgiadis is among those who have already signed up to take part.

He hopes to see households become more mindful of their water usage.

"I am challenging every single NSW household to give Water Night a whirl," Mr Georgiadis said.

"I guarantee once the taps in your home are out of action, you will truly see just how much you are constantly turning them on totally unnecessarily."

Research commissioned by not-for-profit Smart Approved WaterMark found the average NSW resident has running taps for one hour and 44 minutes a day. It's 52 minutes more than the average across Australia.

It also found 90 per cent of NSW people believe it's important to monitor water usage but only 19 are aware of how much they use at home.

Smart Approved WaterMark chief executive officer Chris Philpot wants people to wake up to their "tap dependency".

"Last year's trial of Water Night showed us the potential for significant change, if people just switch off the autopilot when it comes to our tap addictions," Mr Philpot said.

"Those taking part last year were amazed at just how second nature it was to turn on the tap, and how hard it was to stop."

Sign up to Water Night at www.waternight.com.au.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: