10 Ways to Save Water at Home By Tony Green Principal Voice

Speaking Green Communications

10 steps to save waterEvery concerned citizen wants to do their part as California gradually eases itsway out of drought. Here are ten steps you can take today to save water inyour home.

Fix leaks in your toilet and sinksThe innocuous drip in your sink may be costing you more than you think. A dripcan result in up to 70 gallons of water lost per day which can be up to 20% ofa household’s yearly water use.

A toilet leak can result in up 22,000 gallons of water per year. Identifying aleaky faucet or sink is a simple as seeing or hearing the drip. In the case of atoilet a leak can be identified by adding dye tablets to the tank, if dye is seen inthe bowl within 15 minutes this is indicative of a leaking toilet.

Wash your car at a car washDo you feel like washing the car on your day off? In the event you do makesure you use a sponge, a bucket and a hose with a nozzle. If you decide theidea of a dirty car is unfathomable limit washing to once a month. However, ifyou are looking maximize the saving go to a car wash as car washers aremandated to use recycled water.

Use your toilet for human activities and not trash

10 ways to save water at home

10 ways to save water at home

In many correctional facilities low flow toilets will clog as added water flow isneeded to push contraband through its pipes. For those of us not incarceratedputting our trash in the can, and not wasting the 1.6 gallons per toilet flush, thetrash can will do fine. Especially for lighter forms of paper, namely, tissue andtoilet paper.

Limit your showers to 5 minutesYou are not going to get much cleaner after the first few rinse cycles. A timergoes a long way in preventing losing track of time. Instead of using a fewadded minutes of shower time to wake the first thing in the morning why not trya cup of coffee?

While brushing your teeth turn off the water exceptwhen you are rinsing off your toothbrushWhat good does flowing the potable water down the drain while you floss andbrush your teeth? The water is really needed to rinse off after finishing.Turning off the faucet will only take a second or so.

Wash your laundry only when there are enoughclothes to support a full loadThe washing machine will use the same amount of water regardless of whetherit is full or empty. The problem is the additional washes when added up overtime can lead to a large amount of unnecessary water use.

Consider installing a Laundry to Landscape system

10 ways to save water at home

10 ways to save water at home

Until grey water systems become commonplace in our homes, and eventuallythey will be we will need to show a little leadership on this one. Green WaterAction can provide you with all the required resources to use the water fromyour laundry your vegetable trees.

If you enjoy landscaping, consider using nativeplantsThere are native plants designed to grow in specific areas. Find out what isconsidered native for your neighborhood.

Try to limit the time the shower runs while warmingup to a comfortable temperature.Many water heaters take a moment to warm up to where steam is coming outof the shower. This water simply goes down the drain. At two gallons perminute a few minutes of waiting for the water to warm can lead to waterwastage. Think of it this way, after the initial shock of the cold water it shouldall good.

Try to compost your vegetablesInstead of using a garbage disposal which typical involves running additionalwater use these vegetable as nature has designed it. Come on, you know youhave always wanted to compost in your back yard. Now is your chance.

For those of you who think that your action alone might not make a difference Isay, perhaps, but if we collectively implement some of these 10 easy ways tosave water, then who knows, restrictions to curtail our usage might becomeunnecessary…

10 ways to save water at home

10 ways to save water at home

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10 ways to save water at home