water conservation in the home...

1. Check for hidden water leaks
Read the house water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak.

2. Check your toilets for leaks
Put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing, the color begins to appear in the bowl within 30 minutes, you have a leak that should be repaired immediately. Most replacement parts are inexpensive and easy to install.

3. Don't use the toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket
Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tissue or other small bit of trash, five to seven gallons of water is wasted.

4. Put plastic bottles or float booster in your toilet tank
To cut down on water waste, put an inch or two of sand or pebbles inside each of two plastic bottles to weigh them down. Fill the bottles with water, screw the lids on, and put them in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanisms. Or, buy an inexpensive float booster. This may save ten or more gallons of water per day. Be sure at least 3 gallons of water remain in the tank so it will flush properly.
For new installations, consider buying "low flush" toilets, which use 1 to 2 gallons per flush instead of the usual 3 to 5 gallons.

Replacing an 18 liter per flush toilet with an ultra-low volume (ULV) 6 liter flush model represents a 70% savings in water flushed and will cut indoor water use by about 30%.

5. Insulate your water pipes.
It's easy and inexpensive toinsulate your water pipes with pre-slit foam pipe insulation. You'll get hot water faster plus avoid wasting water while it heats up.

6. Install water-saving shower heads and low-flow faucet aerators
Inexpensive water-saving shower heads or restrictors are easy for the homeowner to install. Also, long, hot showers can use five to ten gallons every unneeded minute. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off.
You can easily install a ShowerStart showerhead, or add a ShowerStart converter to existing showerheads, which automatically pauses a running shower once it gets warm.
Also, all household faucets should be fit with aerators. This single best home water conservation method is also the cheapest!

7. Take shorter showers.
One way to cut down on water use is to turn off the shower after soaping up, then turn it back on to rinse. A four-minute shower uses approximately 20 to 40 gallons of water.

8. Turn off the water after you wet your toothbrush
There is no need to keep the water running while brushing your teeth. Just wet your brush and fill a glass for mouth rinsing.

9. Rinse your razor in the sink
Fill the sink with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your razor just as well as running water, with far less waste of water.

Most people in North America use 50 to 70 gallons of water indoors each day and about the same amount outdoors, depending on the season.


Indoors, 3/4 of all water is used in the bathroom


In the average home, the toilet accounts for 28% of water use.


Outdoors, lawn and garden watering and car washing account for most of the water used.


Running a sprinkler for two hours can use up to 500 gallons.


As much as 150 gallons of water can be saved when washing a car by turning the hose off between rinses.


Washing a sidewalk or driveway with a hose uses about 50 gallons of water every 5 minutes