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| How you can save water |
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- Don't leave any water running needlessly. Wash dishes with a basin of water rather than under a running faucet.
- Turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth. If you just wet and rinse your brush instead of letting the water run, you will save 9 gallons of water each time you brush. When shaving, filling the basin instead of letting the water run will save 14 gallons of water.
- Use a bucket rather than a hose for washing the car.
- Install a water saving shower head. Low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators are available from most hardware stores. Installing a low-flow shower head reduces the flow of water by 50%. Energy use and costs may also drop by as much as 50%, because it requires less energy to heat less water. A low-flow faucet aerator combines air with water as it comes out of the tap. An aerator can cut water consumption by 50%, which cuts water use by 280 gallons a month.
- Make a habit of turning on the cold water tap, rather than the hot one, whenever possible.
- Make sure water faucets don't drip. A dripping tap can waste two gallons of water (nine liters) every minute.
- Install low-flow shower heads to use less hot water.
- If you have to water your lawn, doing so in the early morning can save gallons from disappearing into thin air, since water from sprinklers evaporates 4-8 times faster at midday than in the early morning.
- Use cold water for the wash cycle whenever possible and always use it for rinses. As much as 90 percent of the energy used for washing clothes goes to heating water.
- Check your toilets for leaks. A leaking toilet can waste over 7,000 gallons (33,000 liters) of water every month!
- Flushing your toilet uses up to 7 gallons of water. 40% of the pure water in your home is flushed down the toilet. Of course you have to flush your toilet, but you don't have to waste this much water while doing it. Simply put a plastic bottle in your toilet tank to take up space that would go to excess water. This can save 1 to 2 gallons on every flush! Follow these steps:
- get a dishwashing soap bottle or a laundry soap bottle
- soak off the label fill the bottle with water and put on the cap
- place it in the tank (make sure it doesn't interfere with the flushing mechanism)
- Toilet dams are also available from some companies. Although they are a little more complicated to install, they can save 4 gallons every flush.
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