Make Your Home Smart About Water Conservation
As drought continues to parch the Southwest, a growing population also stresses our water supplies. The U.S. population has grown 90 percent in the last 50 years, but public demand for water has risen 209 percent! (EPA, 2015)
Water shortages are happening across the country, and it’s important that efficient water usage is explored nationally, regionally, locally, and in your own home.
Consider the Drip, Drip, Drip Syndrome
One single dripping faucet in your home will lose 11.25 gallons of water per day. That works out to over 4,100 gallons per year! That’s a lot of waste for this resource, and your wallet.
Another prime offender for the “drip, drip, drip syndrome” is your toilet. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a single toilet in your home that continually runs uses up to 200 gallons of water per day. That adds up to 72,000 gallons per year! How many toilets are in your home and how many of them run continuously? Even just one, you get the picture.
Here are a few more suggestions on how you can make your home smart about water conservation.
Low-flow Water Conservation Toilets
Most people cringe when they think about water saving toilets, having to flush three and four times to make the waste go down. In this day & age, why?! Surprisingly, it is because of an inadequate or incorrect fixture, or improper installation. Usage needs and your home drainage system must be taken into account along with your budget, otherwise that water saving toilet isn’t as efficient as intended, nor is it doing what you paid for it to do.
Shower Heads
Showering accounts for up to 20 percent of the average household’s indoor water use. By switching to an ultra low-flow or aerated shower head, you can cut your shower water use by as much as 70 percent! And many of today’s models of high-efficiency shower heads will still give you a good strong shower stream.
These efficient shower heads will also save you money on your energy bill by reducing the demand on your water heater. Less water usage, means less water to replace in the water heater and maintain the proper temperature. Simply by switching your shower head, you could save 300 kilowatt hours of electricity annually – enough to power your television for about a year. Win, win!
Faucets
If you have inefficient faucets (which use more than 2.5 gpm), either replace them with high-efficient faucets with a low flow rate (no more than 1.5 gpm) or add a water-saving aerator or flow restrictor to the existing faucets (an easy and inexpensive modification).
With so much demand on a stressed resource here in the high desert, there are simple ways we can act to have our home plumbing use water more efficiently.
Call Your Plumber to begin conserving water in your home today.