Reducing Water Consumption In The Home
Water conservation is not a luxury – reducing your water consumption will save you money, and helps to save the planet, especially during the water shortage caused by the current drought in California.
Some Facts About Home Water Use
– The average American uses about 100 gallons of water per day.
– 75% of all the water used in your home is used in the bathroom, with the toilet accounting for 30% of your water usage.
– When washing your car, you can save up to 150 gallons of water by turning off the hose while rinsing.
– You use 5 gallons of water for every minute you use a hose to wash down a sidewalk or driveway.
– You use about 500 gallons of water to keep your lawn sprinklers on for two hours.
Here Are Some Tips For Reducing water Consumption In The Home
Check the toilets for leaks
Pour some food coloring into the toilet tank. Don’t flush for a few minutes. If you see the coloring in the toilet bowl within a half-hour, there is a leak. Fix it.
Use water-saving shower heads, low-flow faucet aerators
Long showers cost big bucks – about 5 gallons per minute. There are a variety of ways to reduce your consumption of water in the shower, including: taking shorter showers, turning off the shower while you soap yourself up, installing water-saving low-flow shower heads, installing “low-Flow” shower heads, installing aerators on all faucets in the house.
Check pipes and faucets for leaks
A worn faucet washer can waste up to 20 gallons of water per day, and larger leaks will waste hundreds of gallons. Fix that leaky faucet: sometimes all it takes is a new washer.
Check for hidden water leaks using your water meter
After every member of your family has gone to bed for the night and won’t be using any water for a while, read your house water meter. Next morning, read the meter again. If there has been any change in the meter reading, you have a leak. Get it fixed.
The toilet is not a wastebasket or an ashtray
Place a wastebasket and an ashtray in your bathroom. Five gallons of water are used every time you flush something small down the toilet. Encourage family members and guests to use the wastebasket or ashtray insead of throwing waste into the toilet.
Washing dishes by hand? Turn off the water when rinsing.
Running water while you wash dishes by hand wastes a huge amount of water. If your kitchen has two sinks, fill one with soapy water and the other with clean water for rinsing. If you only have one sink, place your washed dishes into a dish rack or plastic tub and rinse them with a spray device or a panful of hot water. If you use a dishwasher, there is no need to rinse the dishes before placing them in today’s dishwashers.
Cover your hot-water pipes and insulate them
Insulate your hot water pipes by covering them with foam pipe insulation. This will give you hot water faster, and will reduce your water bill.
Reduce the amount of water you use when flushing the toilet.
To save ten or more gallons of water a day, place plastic bottles or a float booster in your toilet tank. Put some sand or some pebbles into a plastic bottle give them some weight, then fill the bottles with water, screw on the lids, and place them into the toilet tank. Make sure the bottles do not interfere with the toilets operating mechanism. To make sure the toilet will still flush correctly, make sure that there are at least 3 gallons of water in the tank.
If you are installing a new toilet, buy a “low flush” toilet – this type uses only 1 to 2 gallons per flush versus the usual 3 to 5 gallons.
Keep drinking water in a bottle in the fridge.
Put your drinking water into a plastic bottle and keep it in the fridge. If you do a lot of hiking or camping and you need to take water with you, consider buying a “LifeStraw” personal water filter. This allows you to get water from any source – a lake, a river, or a stream.
Use an electric shaver or rinse your razor in the sink
An electric shaver saves water big-time. If you still use a razor to shave, fill the sink with a little warm water to rinse your razor, but do not rinse under running water.
Shorter showers use less water
Reduce your water consumption by turning off the shower after you’ve soaped up, then turn it back on when it’s time to rinse. Each minute you spend running water in the shower uses about 10 gallons of water.
Keep your use of the kitchen sink garbage disposal to a minimum
Those garbage disposals in the sink use a lot of water. If you have a back yard, start a compost pile to dispose of food waste rather than placing it in the garbage disposal unit.
Don’t run the dishwasher or washing machine until full.
For maximum conservation of water, do not run your dishwasher or washing machine until they are full. Today’s dishwashers do not need to be rinsed. Avoid using the Permanent Press option on your washing machine – this will save you 5 gallons for each extra rinse. If your washing machine is old, get a new one – front-load washers use less water. The new Energy Star rated machines on the market use up to 50% less water and 50% less energy per load.
When cleaning vegetables in the sink, turn off the water.
Fill the sink or a pan with water, and do your rinsing there instead of running water while you work. Install an aerator on your faucet. Installing a dual-setting aerator on your faucet will reduce your water consumption.
Don’t run the water while brushing your teeth.
This is one of the biggest ways to save water. Wet your toothbrush under the faucet, then turn off the water. Fill a glass with some water and use this for rinsing.
These tips will all help you reduce your water consumption and your water bill.
Here’s one more way you can save water big-time: become a vegan. A person who eats meat or dairy products uses almost 600 gallons of water per day more than a vegan.
If you need professional help to install new water-saving fixtures or equipment, call Mr. Speedy Plumbing & Rooter, the leading local plumbing service in the city. When you need a plumber, we’re there. Mr. Speedy is your speedy choice.
