Ideas to Make Your Home More Water-Efficient

Using water wisely is smart, and it saves money! There’s no downside to that. 

There are additional benefits to smart water usage as well. For example, in arid and semi-arid regions, there simply may not be enough water to go around. And everywhere, the cost of producing water for consumption and treating wastewater are a huge part of municipal expenses. So it just makes sense to save water in our everyday lives.

Here are some ideas to make your home more water-efficient:

In the bathrooms:

Some of the biggest water users in most homes are the toilets, especially in families with children! Almost one-third of annual household water use is attributable to toilet use. Do you know that some toilets can use up to six gallons of water per flush?

• Maximum-performance toilets. These use variable amounts of water for solid and liquid waste. Savings from these toilets amounts to thousands of gallons and water bill reductions of up to $165 per year! If replacing toilets isn’t practical, make sure that your toilets don’t leak through the flapper device in the tank. If the tank takes a long time to refill or periodically refills when it hasn’t been flushed, it may be time to replace the flapper. It’s an easy fix and only costs a few dollars.
• High-efficiency showerheads. No one likes a weak shower stream, but cranking up the shower means using a lot more water than you have to. Conventional showerheads use up to 2 ½ gallons per minute. And teenagers take long showers! Check your local home store for high-efficiency options that use less water but don’t compromise on water power. A showerhead reduction down to 2.0 gallons per hour will save you up to $70 per year on the water bill, and even more on the electric/gas savings on the water heater.