Top 10 Ways to Use Less Water Every Day
By Pays to Live Green · August 21, 2009 · Filed Under Quick Saving Tips
Saving energy and saving water are two of the most important and financially sensible ways to go green, and you don’t have to sacrifice as much of your comfort as much as you’d think. Just by changing a few bad habits, you can commit to saving water in the bathroom, kitchen, outdoors and even while you’re out in public, at work or on vacation. Here are top 10 ways to use less water every day.
- Start noticing how much water you use. You may not realize how much water you’re using – or wasting – until you make a point to notice how many times you flush the toilet, how long your showers take, and how many times you fill up your water filter. Once you start tracking your water usage, you’ll find that it’s easier to cut back little by little.
- Don’t rinse dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Most modern dishwashers can handle a few crumbs, so once you dump out (or compost) the scraps, go ahead and load up the dishwasher.
- Take faster showers. Start washing your hair once every other day, and turn off the shower radio to speed up your shower time. If you just can’t bare to step out of the steamy shower any faster, lower the water temperature until you’re ready to hop out.
- Don’t dump dirty water out. Use leftover water from guests’ glasses to fill up your pets’ water bowls or water your plants.
- Evaluate your pipes and faucets. Check for leaky pipes and faucets that are left dripping water.
- Flush the toilet less. If it’s just you at home, flush every other time (unless you’ve got to go number two!) Throw tissues and waste in the trash, not down the toilet.
- Start composting. Kitchen garbage disposals depend on large amounts of water to work properly. Throw your waste in the garbage or a compost pile to reduce water waste.
- Turn the water off when you wash your hair, brush your teeth or wash dishes. Letting the water run when you’re not directly using it is the fastest way to waste it.
- Only wash clothes when you have a full load. Wait to run the washing machine until you have enough clothes to fill it up.
- Use mulch. Put mulch around your plants to help them absorb water, letting them benefit from fewer waterings.
This post was contributed by Emily Thomas, who writes about the online colleges. She welcomes your feedback at Emily.Thomas31 (at) yahoo.com
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Thank, these tips must work.
In regards to #3/8, I have a shower head that has a shutoff switch on it.
This lets you shut the water off on the shower head, without having to mess with the hot and cold valves. This way, you can lather up with the water off, but don’t have to worry about changing the water temperature…
I follow couple of these… thanks for the other tips. Also mulching also helps to control weeds.
In regards to showering, one simple, but often over looked tip is, people will soap their hair or body while the water is running, but if they shut off the water while soaping, it can save a ton of water as well! It’s similar to brushing teeth, some people will leave the water running while brushing their teeth, when it’s not really being used and just going to waste.
Till then,
Jean
Great tips! This is something I’ve been working on lately too. It’s so easy to waste water and not really even notice it.
Another thing that can help if you just can’t seem to shut the water off is making sure you have an aerator on every faucet. Look for ones that have the lowest GPM (gallons per minute) number. Low flow shower heads are good too.
Hey great tips! Wow what a wonderful resource! a lot of them are common sense but many people just don’t think about. Thanks for putting this together and sharing!
Great list. Big fan of the toilet suggestion, as it is one of the biggest consumers of water in the house.
Read elsewhere that a family of four, if they replaced their old 3.5 gallons / flush model with a newer 1.28 gallons / flush model, they would save 68 gallons of water per day. That’s almost 25k gallons a year.