Saving Water

When I think about saving money on utilities, I usually think about our natural gas and electricity. For some reason, increasing measures to conserve our water usage rarely crosses my mind. But recently, one of my neighbors pointed out that the water utility service in our area charges a "sewer usage fee" that is MORE than the charge for the water itself! Seems crazy to me, but there is nothing I can do to change it.

So, I decided it was time to begin focusing more on wise water usage. Obviously, a decrease in our water bill is a main motivator, but it still seems prudent to form better habits of conserving our water. We were fortunate this past summer to not be in an area affected by enforced water restrictions, but that doesn't mean that it could not become necessary at some point for a variety of reasons.

Most of us could easily make a quick list of ways to conserve water, but here are a few suggestions I found particularly helpful:

• When hot water sits in your tap for a little while, it can get cold. If you need hot water, often you run the tap until the cold water in the hot water tap goes warm or hot. That amount of water is approximately 2-4 liters depending upon the distance from the tap to the hot water heater. As a way to utilize that 2-4 liters of cold water, fill up a Brita-type water pitcher and use it for drinking or cooking. You could also fill up your watering can, and give your house plants a quick drink or collect it in a small bucket and use it for cleaning.


• One trick is to turn your toilet into a "low flow" toilet. By doing this you reduce the amount of water used in each flush, and take a bite out of your water bill. You can do this by filling up an empty 2-liter soda bottle or an empty milk jug and placing the bottle in the tank of your toilet.


• Stop those drippy faucets! It's unbelievable how much water is wasted from even the slowest drip. After counting the drips per minute, use the drip calculator here: http://theplumber.com/drip_calculator.html When I used it, I found out that what I thought was an insignificant faucet drip, was causing me to pay for an extra 1051 gallons of water per year! YIKES!


• Running your washing machine & dish washer only when full can save you up to 1,000 gallons per month.


• If your shower fills a one-gallon bucket in less than 20 seconds, replace the shower head with a water-efficient model. You can purchase a water-saving shower head for as little as $15. They are easy to install and can cut the cost of a shower in half. In the past they've been criticized for offering very little water pressure, but newer models produce a full-power spray that uses as little as three gallons of water per minute.


• It can also be helpful to set a timer every time you get into the shower to get yourself into the habit of using less water. Shortening your shower by a minute or two saves up to 150 gallons per month.


• Collect water from your roof to water your garden. This one is something we've committed to try. We intend to install rain barrels at 2 gutter downspouts, and use the free water for our outdoor watering needs.