By making just a few small changes to your daily routine, you can save a significant amount of water, money and become more Green. Here are a few things you can do:
- Check for leaks. A leaky faucet or toilet can account for gallons of water wasted in every house each year. To check for a leaky faucet read your water meter before a two hour period when water is not being used. If the reading has changed in that time, it means you have a leak. A leaky toilet can be detected by dropping a little food colouring into the tank. If the colour shows up in the bowl without flushing there is a leak. Furthermore, it is also important to protect your pipes against cold weather. Frosty weather could cause pipes to burst and a substantial amount of water wasted.
- Try to take showers rather than baths. Baths use around 70 gallons of water whereas a five minute shower uses between 10 and 25 gallons. A shower timer could help you use even less water than this.
- Turn off the tap when you are not using it, such as when brushing your teeth or shaving. This could save up to 8 gallons of water a day.
- Using a high efficient washing machine uses less than 28 gallons of water per load compared to most household washing machines that use around 41 gallons of water per load. Moreover, to save even more water, energy and money, only wash full loads of laundry.
- Rather than waiting for the tap to run cold in order to have a cold drink, chill a jug of water in the fridge.
- Make changes in the garden too. Simple things like not over-watering the plants, weeding regularly so plants can access water and recycling water (such as from the butt of the washing machine) for the plants can massively save water [1].
