Water is a precious resource, and so it is everyone’s responsibility to conserve it whenever possible. There are a lot of products on the market that promise to help households minimize the amount of water they consume, but saving water doesn’t have to be so complicated. In fact, there are a number of steps you can take to save water that don’t cost a dime and only take a few minutes.
- Place a few drops of food coloring in the toilet tank, then check back in about 30 minutes. If you can see the color in the toilet bowl, your toilet has a leak that needs to be repaired.
- Fill up a two-liter bottle with sand or pebbles and put it in the toilet tank. This displaces some of the water, which means you use less each time you flush.
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth.
- Install an energy-efficient shower head. These shower heads can be found at your local hardware store and are easy to install with a wrench or pair of pliers.
In the Kitchen
- Only run the dishwasher or washing machine when it is full.
- Don’t use the permanent press setting on the washing machine, as this adds an extra five gallons to each load of laundry.
- Cut back on the amount of time you spend running the garbage disposal.
Under the House and Around the Pipes
- Before a vacation or other period of time in which you won’t be turning the water on for a few days, check the number on the water meter. Check the reading again after at least 72 hours has passed and see if it has changed. If it has, you may have a water leak somewhere in the house.
- Insulate pipes to keep the water warm and reduce the amount of time you have to let the tap run while waiting for it to heat up.
Make sure the entire family knows about these water saving ideas because in addition to being environmentally friendly, they also save money, shaving charges off your monthly water bill. I got some of these great tips from Aquasana’s Live Healthy resource, so make sure to check those out for additional water saving tips!
