Easy Ways to Conserve Water

Easy Ways to Conserve Water

In the Bathroom
Start in your bathroom, where the most water is used:
  • Turn off the water while lathering up, shaving, or brushing teeth.
  • Trim a minute off the length of your showers. You’ll save on your water-heating bills, too.
  • Take fewer baths and reduce the amount of water you use to fill the tub when you do take a bath.
  • Submerge a plastic bottle or two filled with sand inside each toilet tank in your house. Some people prefer to put a brick in the tank. (Be sure it doesn’t interfere with the flushing mechanism.) Every time you flush you’ll save water.
  • Reduce the amount of times per day the toilet is flushed. Don’t use the toilet as a wastebasket. Throw tissues and other waste in a wastebasket.
  • Use a bucket to capture shower and bath water while you wait for it to warm up. Then use it in your toilet tank or to water plants.
  • Get inexpensive, water-saving aerators for your sinks.
  • Replace shower heads with water-efficient models.
  • Buy an inexpensive kit to convert your toilet to dual-flush mode
  • Fix leaks. This one step alone could cut your water usage by almost 20 percent. 
More information how to check for leaks >>
In the Kitchen & Household
Conserve even more by being water-wise in the kitchen:
  • Keep a container of drinking water in the refrigerator.
  • Wash full loads only in your dishwasher and your washing machine.
  • Don’t let the water run unnecessarily. Hand-wash dishes in a pan, not under running water. Rinse vegetables in a bowl of water, not under running water.
  • Keep a bowl by your kitchen sink to save water you’d otherwise let run down the drain – including pasta and other cooking water. Use this for your plants.
  • Steam vegetables instead of boiling then. It uses less water, and improves flavor and nutrition, too.
  • Keep vegetable scraps out of the garbage disposal, which uses a lot of water. Compost them outdoors for your garden.
  • Fix leaks. This one step alone could cut your water usage by almost 20 percent. More information how to check for leaks >>
  • Insulate hot water pipes.
Outdoors
It’s hard to believe, but some homes use more water outdoors in the summer than they use for all other purposes all year. More than 50 percent of landscape water is lost due to evaporation or over-watering outdoors at the average American home.

Minimize lawn and garden water use by:
  • Watering outdoors only when needed, not on a set schedule. If your grass springs back after you step on it, it doesn’t need watering.
  • During dry spells, when water supplies are often at their lowest, water just once a month. The lawn will go brown and dormant, and then bounce back in the fall.
  • DO NOT use automatic sprinkler systems; these systems use much more water than is actually needed.
  • Water the lawn by hand, rather than use sprinklers.
  • Install drip-irrigation systems in your garden (hand-watering is still best).
  • Plant gardens to take advantage of rainwater run-off from other parts of your property.Use a rain barrel to capture water from your roof to use in your garden, pool or to wash your car.
  • Reduce the size of your lawn by planting shrubs, berry bushes or other low-maintenance ground covers – or just letting it go “native.”
  • Let your grass grow longer, which will encourage deeper, healthier roots and keep them cooler and moister during dry spells.
  • Leaving grass clippings on the lawn to decompose, nourish the grass and reduce your need for fertilizers.
  • Water only on cloudy days or at night or in the evening. This will reduce evaporation and allow more water to reach your lawn’s root zone.
  • Use a rain gauge to determine when your lawn needs water and also to measure how much water you’re applying. Generally, turf grasses need about ¾"—1" of water per week. If the forecast calls for rain, hold off on watering.
  • Use directional sprinklers and put them where they water just the lawn, not driveways or sidewalks.
  • Plant trees to shade your lawn.Plant drought-resistant grass and other plants.
  • Sweep driveways, steps and sidewalks instead of hosing them down.
  • If you can’t find a car wash that recycles water, wash your car on your lawn. Use water from a rain barrel to wash your car.
  • Cover swimming pools at night.
  • Avoid fountains and pools that don’t have recirculating pumps.
  • Fix leaks. This one step alone could cut your water usage by almost 20 percent. More information how to check for leaks >>
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