How to Save Water in Your Home and Office
Take an honest look at your water consumption and consider how to save water. The answer to the question of how to save water may be simpler than you think. With a few common sense approaches to saving water, you can greatly reduce your water consumption in your home and office. Most households consume much more water than necessary. Your conservation efforts will reward both you and the environment: you will save money and your septic system’s longevity while simultaneously reducing water pollution.
How to Save Water in the Bathroom
Bathroom water use accounts for a staggering 75% of the average household’s water consumption; the average toilet accounts for about 40% of this bathroom water use. Older toilet models use five gallons of water per flush. For the sake of efficiency, consider replacing your older toilet with a newer low-flow model. Many new toilet models use less than two gallons per flush.
Showers also offer many opportunities to save water. When showering, turn off the water while soaping or shaving. Shorten the length of your showers and take them less frequently. You can also replace your shower-head with a more efficient model to save water.
How to Save Water in the Kitchen
The kitchen is also an important source of water usage. The amount of water used to wash dishes can be easily reduced. If you are using a dishwasher, wait until you have a full load of dishes before running the machine. Before putting dishes into the dishwater, consider scraping them clean rather than rinsing them. If you are washing dishes by hand, fill a basin with warm soapy water and another with rinsing water. Use this water to wash and rinse your dishes rather than turning the sink on and off for each dish. You can also wash your produce in a bowl of water, rather than rinsing it under a tap.
How to Save Water in the Office
The average office uses 14,695 gallons of water per day, so it is important to consider water usage in your office as well as in your home. The tips mentioned in the kitchen and bathroom sections also apply to your office, but in your office you can include your co-workers or employees in your conservation efforts. Email your employees the aforementioned tips about how to use less water in the office bathrooms or kitchen. Be sure your office plumbing is leak-free and report any leaks to maintenance.
Other Ways to Save Water
Your laundry room is another easy place to save water. As with your dishwasher, wash only full loads. This saves up to two thousand gallons of water per year.
