3 Easy Ways to Reduce Water Waste

Water is an essential part of our daily lives, whether we’re using it for drinking, cooking, growing food, washing, or cleaning. The average American uses around 2,000 gallons of water a day both directly and indirectly between home, yard maintenance, daily diet, and products purchased at the store. We also use water for industrial purposes, such as steel and paper production. You could even be using water without realizing, it can take up to 2,700 liters of water to produce enough cotton to make one t-shirt. Needless to say, we sometimes waste water without even realizing. While we may be lucky enough to have access to clean water, others are not so fortunate. Take a look at these three easy ways you can reduce water waste in your home.

1. Use a Rain Barrel for Watering

Using a 55 gallon rain barrel for watering gardens, flowers, and lawns can save you around 1,300 gallons of water every year. Rain barrels can help lower a homeowners water bills, reduce demand for treated tap water, limit the amount of polluted storm water runoff flowing into local rivers and lakes, and saves water for use during droughts.

2. Install Water-Wise Appliances & Showerheads

Installing low-flow dishwashers and washing machines is a highly effective way to reduce water waste at home. The same can be done for your bathrooms showerheads and toilets, as older showerheads can use up to 5 gallons of water each minute. Older model toilets can use up to 4 gallons per flush, by installing water saving showerheads and toilets, those numbers can decrease to at least 2-1.5 gallons.

3. Fix Leaking Fixtures & Limit Outdoor Irrigation

A leaky faucet can drip 60 drops of water per minute, wasting 192 gallons of water a month, remember to check your water bill for any instances of high water use and investigate if you find any red flags. Another way to reduce water waste at home is by simply cutting back on the amount of time you spend not only showering, but watering the lawn. Keep in mind during the day water evaporates more quickly, try to wake up earlier to water the lawn and give it a good coating of water, if you’re not an early bird water the lawn in the evening when the sun starts to set.

We hope you’ve found these 3 tips to reducing water waste helpful when taking the step to cut down on your water waste. Remember, using these tips will not only help you save water, they will help you save money!