By making just a few small changes to your daily routine, you can save a significant amount of water, which will help you save money and preserve water supplies for future generations. Water-efficient plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems provide the same performance and quality you've come to expect, but with the added benefit of water savings. The WaterSense label will help you identify high-efficiency products and programs for certified irrigation professionals.
Fix That Leak!
Challenge: Leaky faucets that drip at the rate of one drop per second can waste up to 2,700 gallons of water each year.
Solution: If you're unsure, whether you have a leak, read your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak.
Challenge: A leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water every day.
Solution: To tell if your toilet has a leak, place a drop of food coloring in the tank; if the color shows in the bowl without flushing, you have a leak.
Shower Power
Challenge: A full bathtub requires about 70 gallons of water, while taking a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons.
Solution: If you take a bath, stopper the drain immediately and adjust the temperature as you fill the tub.
Turn it Off!
Challenge: The average bathroom faucet flows at a rate of two gallons per minute.
Solution: Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth in the morning and at bedtime can save up to 8 gallons of water per day, which equals 240 gallons a month!
Water Wisely
Challenge: The typical single-family suburban household uses at least 30 percent of their water outdoors for irrigation. Some experts estimate that more than 50 percent of landscape water use goes to waste due to evaporation or runoff caused by overwatering!
Solution: Look for sprinklers that produce droplets - not mist - and install rain shut-off devices and moisture sensors. Water-efficient irrigation systems help to waste less water, potentially saving more than 11 billion gallons per year across the United States. This is equal to the amount of water used by 3,200 garden hoses flowing constantly for one year!
Make it a Full Load
Challenge: The average washing machine uses 40.9 gallons of water per load.
Solution: High-efficiency washing machines use less than 27 gallons of water per load. To achieve even greater savings, wash only full loads of laundry or use the appropriate load size selection on the washing machine.
Don't Flush Your Money Down the Drain!
Challenge: If your toilet is from 1992 or earlier, you probably have an inefficient model that uses between 3.5 to 7 gallons per flush.
Solution: New and improved high-efficiency models use less than 1.3 gallons per flush - that's 60 to 80 percent less than their less efficient counterparts. Over 10 years, one high-efficiency toilet can save a family of four roughly $1,000 without compromising performance.