Here are a few new tips to keep in mind - They are all basically commonsensical, but worth repeating:
1. When you brush your teeth, make sure to turn off the faucet - you can save eight gallons every day with this one.
2. Shortening your showers by as little as two minutes can save another eight gallons every time you shower.
3. Leaky faucets can waste 20 gallons per day, so don’t hesitate to fix these fixtures - call a plumber!
4. Make sure you wash only full loads and you could be saving 50 gallons of water per week.
5. If you are replacing the old commode, install a High Efficiency Toilet (HET).
6. Stop using the toilet as a trashcan or wastebasket.
7. Your hot water pipes should be well insulated, preferably with eco-friendly insulation made from recycled materials.
8. Of course - Install low-flow faucet aerators.
9. What goes for the clothes washer goes for the dishwasher - FULL LOADS ONLY!
10. Washing and rinsing dishes by hand should be done in the basin or a sink bucket - not with the water running directly down the drain.
11. You can check for toilet leaks by adding food coloring to the tank. If coloring appears in the bowl you have a leaky toilet that could be wasting many gallons per day (Make sure to flush after your test so that you dont stain your toilet bowl).
12. Do not shave with the water running - conserve water by using a bowl or the basin.
13. If you like your drinking water cold - fill up the container and put it in the fridge - stop running the water until its cold.
14. You should not need to run your garbage disposal all that much (are you composting?…).
15. Your plants would love that old, murky fish tank water, so don’t just pour it down the drain.
16. Thaw food with ambient air, not running water.
17. One last point on toilets - instead of jiggling that handle to stop the runny toilet - how about fixing it? Your guests don’t know that trick and you yourself might be forgetting sometimes…
That’s all for now - tune back in later for more money, water, and energy saving tips…
Tags: saving water
That is a really solid, practical list of water saving tips. I would add that you should reduce sprinkler and other irrigation by checking to make sure you provide just enough water to keep landscaping lush with minimal runoff. My neighbor next door has been running his sprinklers every day this winter, not on purpose but out of ignorance (and probably inability to learn how to adjust his sprinkler timer). I suspect that in many homes a proper sprinkler tuneup would result in major water savings, probably more than all of the items contained in the excellent list in this blog post.
By the way, this is Tom, the overly curious freak you guys met today while installing a solar water heater across the street.