Check your home inside and out, including sprinkler systems and faucets, for drips and leaks. Stopping the drips saves two valuable resources: water and money.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
That’s not the sound of a slow water leak, it’s your money going down the drain on higher and higher water bills. Stop the dollar drip — and help conserve a precious resource — by following these simple tips.
• Turn off the faucet when shaving, brushing your teeth, or lathering in the shower. This can save about 80 percent of the normal amount of water used.
• Speaking of showers, take shorter ones.
• Check for leaks in toilets, faucets, shower heads, appliances, and around your water meter. Check your irrigation system, too, looking for soggy spots in your yard.
• Only run your dishwasher when it’s completely full.
• Scrape dishes instead of pre-rinsing. Energy Star qualified dishwashers do the cleaning, so dishes don’t have to be free of food when they go in the appliance.
• When washing dishes by hand, fill a container or the sink with rinse water. Don’t run water while soaping dishes. This can save around 2.5 gallons of water a minute.
• Only water your yard during the cool part of the day. Also, do not water on windy days.
Replacing a few things around the house can also save you water and money.
• Installing an aerator on your bathroom or kitchen faucet saves about 1 gallon per minute. While it reduces flow from the faucet, an aerator uses air to keep up the water pressure.
• Replace old shower heads with high-efficiency ones. Again, this could save you about 1 gallon a minute.
• Replace toilets with WaterSense-labeled high-efficiency toilets. These newer toilets use four times less water to flush.
• Only purchase Energy Star-approved appliances, especially when it comes to dishwashers, washers, and dryers.
• Put timers on your sprinklers so you never forget to turn them off.
