This entry was posted on Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 at 3:45 pm and is filed under home green home, water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Water. Can’t live with out it. And while 75% of the planet is covered in water, only 2.5% of it is fresh water. Of that fresh water, only a small amount of it is drinkable and renewed by precipitation. Growing human demand coupled with extreme weather conditions is putting a strain on our available fresh water sources. A struggle over the world’s shrinking water supply, like our current struggle with oil, is a very real crisis that will in all probability come to a head within the next 40 years. Quite the pickle, eh?
But even if we had abundant water resources, conserving water at home also conserves energy and saves you money. Here are some easy ways to conserve water around the house, so easy and budget friendly you won’t feel like you are missing a drop!
*If your toilet is not a low flow toilet, make it a low budget low flow: save water by putting a quart plastic milk container (or large plastic water bottle) full of a water/sand or water/rocks mixture in your tank (safely away from the operating mechanisms, of course…adding the sand or rocks keeps the container from bobbing around). This displaces the water, allowing your toilet to have the same flushing power with less water, saving 10 or more gallons per day!
*Fit all your household faucets with aerators. This is the single best home water conservation method…and (bonus!) it is also the cheapest. Ringing in at an average of $3.00 per faucet, these little gems can reduce your water use over 50%. They reduce water but add air flow so your faucet flow doesn’t slow to a trickle. All the gain with none of the pain…love it.
*Installing a low flow showerhead can reduce water waste from 30-60%. And hurry up in there! Lollygagging in the shower is not getting you extra clean, and cutting four minutes from your shower routine can save 30-50 gallons of water per shower.
*Turn off the tap while brushing your teeth. All that water is doing nothing but going down the drain (at an average of 3 gallons a minute…yikes!). Instead, wet your brush and fill a glass for rinsing your mouth.
*Wash your fruits and vegetables in a bowl instead of under running water. The same goes for washing your dishes: If you have a double basin sink, use one for soapy water and one for rinse water. If you have a single basin sink, use a pan or large bowl for your rinse water. If you use a dishwasher, only run it when it’s full, skipping the pre-wash cycle completely. And unless you have an absolutely ancient dishwasher, avoid pre-rinsing dishes before loading it up…modern washers don’t need it.
*Avoid flushing the toilet unnecessarily Dispose of tissues, insects and other such waste in the trash rather than the toilet. Give your goldfish a proper burial. And remember this rhyme: when it’s yellow, let it mellow, when it’s brown, flush it down. Learn it. Say it. Live it.
*Wash clothes only with full loads…no throwing in that one pair of jeans because you have to wear them. We both know you have something else clean and just as cute to wear. Seriously. Put down the jeans and slowly step away from the washer.
