Aside from the air we breathe, water is the single most important element in our lives. Here are some tips to help you conserve water and avoid wasting such a precious resource. CSG Network also offers a helpful water usage calculator for those looking to estimate their monthly water usage.
Conserve water in the bathroom:
- To check your toilets for leaks, put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If the color begins to appear in the bowl without flushing, you have a leak that should be repaired immediately.
- Don’t use your toilet as an ashtray or a wastebasket – every time you flush you use three to seven gallons of water.
- Take shorter showers or take a bath instead. A partially filled tub uses less water than most showers.
- Turn the water off after you wet your toothbrush and fill a glass for mouth rinsing.
- Frequently check faucets and pipes for leaks. One drop per second is a small enough leak to use 250 gallons of water in one month.
- Install water saving devices on faucets and shower heads.
- If your toilet’s flapper valve sticks open, you are wasting water. An open flapper valve is no different than water running from a sink faucet. Repair immediately to avoid high water charges.
Conserve water in the kitchen and laundry:
- Use your automatic dishwasher and washing machine for full loads only.
- If you wash dishes by hand, turn off water before rinsing
- If you have a double sink, fill one with soapy water and the other with rinse water.
- If you have only one sink, gather washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a spray device or a pan full of hot water.
- Don’t let the faucet run while you clean vegetables.
- Keep a bottle of drinking water ready in the refrigerator – running tap water to cool water off for drinking is wasteful.
Did You Know?
- An average shower uses 5 to 15 gallons of water per minute.
- A toilet uses 3 to 7 gallons of water per flush.
- An average load of laundry use 25-60 gallons of water.
- An average bath tub size uses 25-50 gallons per bath.
- An average apartment unit with two working adults uses between 3,000 – 4,000 gallons of water per month.
- A toilet leak can use approximately 40,000 gallons in one month.