Water is becoming a scarce resource in our world. With water being such a critical resource, saving water is a great way to take action and save our water supplies. There are a few simple ways to save water at home that can save money on your water bill as well as your environmental impact.
However, if you think about the rate we are going, a normal household uses over 400 gallons a day. Most of it takes place in bathrooms and laundry rooms. Wasting water is quickly becoming a huge problem in our society.
Just leaving a water faucet on while shaving or brushing your teeth can take 20 gallons of water. Many people forget to turn off their faucets, fill up their bathtubs too high, and leave the hose on when washing a car.
This guide should help bring awareness to how to save water in daily life by breaking it down with water-wasting fixtures.
Here are some basic things that anyone can easily do to save water at home.
Faucets
Faucets themselves don’t waste a ton of water, however leaving them on while not using them does. Many other companies have made a variety of faucets for households that save forty-five percent more water than normal faucets. That can lead to up to 14700 gallons of water per year.
Saving that much water can save a ton of money each month on the water bill. If you combine putting in a water-friendly faucet with being conscious of the times you are leaving the water on while doing other things, a lot of water can be saved over the year.
Here are a few other things you can do to save water with your faucet.
- Try turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth, and rinse out the sink when finished. That way, the water is not continually running.
- While shaving, fill the bottom of the sink with water. That way, it does not have to remain running.
- While handwashing dishes, try to use the least amount of water possible. Use short spurts and have all the dishes in one area to rinse all at once. If using the dishwashing machine, have it completely full of dirty dishes. (This can be applied to the laundry machine as well to reduce the amount of water used per load.)
- Make sure to keep up on maintaining leaky faucets.
Toilets
Switching to water conserving toilet can ultimately save up to 16500 gallons per year. Most toilets that were installed over 10 years ago are huge water wasters and can use up to 5 gallons per flush.
A wide variety of modern toilets solve this problem by using only 1.5 gallons per flush. There are also dual-flush toilets for less water use depending on the waste.
Here are some other tips on how to save water with your toilet.
- Use the toilet only to flush “sanitary waste” and not trash.
- Make sure there are no leaks anywhere on the toilet
- Check and make sure it is fully functioning and not continually filling with water.
Shower Heads
Taking a shower takes up the most water out of the entire household devices. The showerhead manufacturers have showerheads that can save up to thirty-five percent more water than others, which comes out to 7700 gallons of water each year.
These showerheads are the easiest change you can make. They are generally not too expensive and can be switched out in no time at all.
Here are a few other shower water-saving tips.
- While waiting for water to warm up for a bath or shower, take a cup and fill it up to pour on plants, rinsing sinks, or cleaning razors.
- Plug the bathtub right away instead of waiting for it to warm up. This way, it saves wasted water. The water heater can warm up by adjusting the temperature later.
- Try to cut down shower time to two minutes.
Everyone has something in their house that can be updated to save water. If we start to get serious about conserving water today, then in the future, it will be much easier to control. Use one of the above saving water around the home tips to make a change right now.
