10 tips Water Conservation in the Home ...

                           10 tips Water Conservation in the Home ...

• It’s easy and inexpensive to insulate your water pipes with pre-slit foam pipe insulation. You’ll get hot water faster plus avoid wasting water while it heats up.

• Federal regulations state that new toilets must use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush. Replacing an old toilet with an ultra-low volume (ULV) 1.6 gallon flush model represents a 70% savings in water and will cut indoor water use by about 30%. Alternatively, consider purchasing a dual flush toilet or installing a dual flush converter that turns a standard toilet into a dual flush toilet, saving an average family 15,000 gallons of water each year. More water can be used when it’s needed, but for most flushes you’ll be using 70% less, adding up to some significant water savings.

• Composting toilets are the most effective way to cut water waste from your bathroom since they require no water at all! Better still, they keep all the nutrients and pollutants out of waterways and make them available for use in non-food landscapes.
• Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tissue, or other small bit of trash, you’re wasting gallons of water. Put them in the garbage, or better yet, recycle.
• The most efficient washing machines use as little as seven gallons per load, compared to a whopping 54 for a traditional washer. A high efficiency (HE) washer should easily pay for itself over its lifetime in water and energy savings. New Energy Star rated washers use 35 – 50% less water and 50% less energy per load. If you’re in the market for a new clothes washer, read our article about water-saving.
• There is no need to keep the water running while brushing your teeth. Just wet your brush and fill a glass for mouth rinsing.
• Fill the sink with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your razor just as well as running water, with far less waste of water.
• Read the house water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak.
• If your have a double-basin, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you have a single-basin sink, gather washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a spray device or a pan full of hot water. Dual-swivel aerators are available to make this easier. If using a dishwasher, there is usually no need to pre-rinse the dishes.
• In-sink ‘garburators’ require lots of water to operate properly, and also add considerably to the volume of solids in a septic tank, which can lead to maintenance problems. Start a compost pile as an alternate method of disposing food waste.