Do Your Part to Preserve Life on Earth: Conserve Water

Even though we may take water for granted, less than 1% of the world’s fresh water (or about 0.007% of all water on earth) is readily accessible for direct human use, and over 884 million people in the world lack access to safe water supplies.This is approximately one in eight people.

It’s important that we all do our part to make the best use of the water resources we have, which means finding ways to reuse water, like watering plants with clothes and dishwasher water, and reduce our daily consumption.

COMMIT TO REDUCING YOUR DAILY WATER CONSUMPTION.

Options include:

Fix toilet, shower and faucet leaks. Leaking faucets and dripping shower heads are some of the biggest household water wasters. In fact, just a small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste 20 gallons of water per day.

Install aerators.We all take showers and baths to stay clean, and use the bathroom sink to brush our teeth and wash our faces.  The average home shower blasts out about 7-10 gallons of water per minute, which means if you  took a ten minute shower, you’ve already used 100 gallons of water before breakfast! If you leave the tap running while you brush your teeth or shave, you could be sending 5-10 gallons of water down the drain.

Switch to low-flow toilets. If you’re shocked about the sheer volume of water you use at the sink and in the shower, get ready to brace yourself. Toilets use about 30 percent of the total water used in a household, and if you’re still using a conventional single flush toilet, you might be wasting up to 3.5 galllons of water in one flush. If you don’t have the money (or desire) to replace your conventional toilet with a more efficient one, it’s easy to convert your existing throne to a low-flow toilet all on your own.  According to EarthEasy.com: 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 tank bank or float booster. This may save ten or more gallons of water per day.

Catch rainwater it if you can.The average American family uses about 400 gallons of water per day, and a staggering 30 percent of that isn’t even used for drinking, cooking or cleaning: it’s used to water lawns and gardens, wash automobiles, maintain swimming pools, and cleaning sidewalks and driveways. Remember that while we can’t necessarily drink the water that falls from the sky as rain,  we can use it for these other, non-consumptive applications. You can install rain catchment systems on your roof or rain barrels around your home. In some states, there are restrictions on who can capture rain water so check with your local government first.

Changes you can choose with no cost to you:

1. Turn off the water when you’re washing dishes by hand, brushing your teeth or shaving.

1. Only run the clothes washer or the dishwasher when you’ve got a full load.

1. Avoid baths and take shorter showers.

1. Plant drought-resistant lawns, shrubs and plants in your yard, and put down mulch wherever you can to help water from evaporating too quickly.

1. If you must water your lawn, be sure to place your sprinklers in such a way that no water will fall on sidewalks or driveways, and only water in the early morning or evening, when the weather is cooler.

1. Use a broom, and not a hose to clean your driveway and sidewalks.

1. Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily. Dispose of tissues, insects and other such waste in the trash rather than the toilet.

1. Use the garbage disposal less and the garbage more (or better yet compost!) and you could save 50 to 150 gallons a month.