With the increasing global awareness of the planet’s limited water supply, more people are looking for ways to reduce their water footprints. But since water is so essential to our health and hygiene, this isn’t always easy. Luckily, we’ve compiled a long list of tips that will help you save water without compromising your health, hygiene, or lifestyle.
Easy Ways To Save Water In The Bathroom
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, about half of all water used municipally is used in the bathroom. Therefore, it should be a priority to save water when you’re in this room. Below are a few tips to help you do just that.
- Turn off the faucet: Chances are, you probably leave the faucet running when brushing your teeth, washing your hands, or shaving. But since you aren’t directly using water most of this time, you don’t need to keep it running. Therefore, turn off the faucet when you are not actively using it for an easy way to save on water.
- Shower less: Showering makes up about an average of 17% of home water use and uses up about 2.5 gallons of water per minute. Therefore, you can easily save water by making your showers shorter or showering less altogether. Even shaving off just a few minutes can make a huge difference. If you’re remodelling a bathroom, consider installing pebble shower floors, which are easy to clean and don’t require water-consuming maintenance.
- Or take a bath: Depending on how long you take in the shower, it may be better for you to bathe instead. While a 30-minute shower uses 75 or more gallons of water, filling a bath only uses about 36 gallons on average. So if you enjoy long showers, you’ll save water by taking a long bath instead.
Easy Ways To Save Water In The Kitchen
Between cleaning the dishes and preparing meals, a lot of water gets used in the kitchen. Luckily there are quite a few ways to reduce your water usage in this room as well.
- Completely fill the dishwasher: A dishwasher uses far less water than washing dishes by hand. But if you only partially fill your dishwasher before running it, you’re still wasting water. Therefore, only turn on your dishwasher when it is completely full to save more water.
- Plug up the sink: If you don’t have a dishwasher, then plug and fill up the sink with water when washing your dishes by hand. This way, you won’t run the faucet the entire time and will use only a fraction of your water usage to clean your dishes.
- Keep cool water in the fridge: Many people run their kitchen faucet for a minute or two to adjust its temperature. But as you can imagine, this can be incredibly wasteful. Instead, if you need cold water, prepare ahead of time by filling a pitcher or bottle with room temperature water and placing it in the fridge. Doing this often will ensure you always have cold water without running the faucet unnecessarily.
- Thaw food in the fridge: If you need to thaw any food for dinner, put it in the fridge for a few hours instead of running hot water on it. Your meal will be just as tasty and require significantly less water.
- Scrape your plate: It’s relatively common to rinse each dish before putting it in the dishwasher. But with most modern dishwashers, this step is unnecessary. Therefore, just scrape off your dish after your meal and place it directly in your dishwasher.
Easy Ways To Save Water Outdoors
A garden or perfectly green lawn is a great joy to many people. But about 30 to 60% of drinking water is used to water landscapes annually, and much of that water isn’t necessary. Here are a few tips for maintaining your lawn without using so much water.
- Water your lawn less: Though it should be obvious, watering your lawn less will save you hundreds of gallons of water per year. Though watering garden plants is essential to keep them alive, most people water their grass just to keep it green and looking nice. Since this isn’t essential, this is an effortless way to save an enormous amount of water.
- Get drought-resistant plants: Not all plants need water often. In fact, some have evolved to last weeks or longer without a single drop. So if you still want a thriving landscape without using enormous amounts of water, add in drought-resistant plants, such as succulents and cacti.
- Pay attention to the weather: Depending on your local climate and the season, you may not need to water your garden very often. If you live in an area with a long rainy season, then you can just let mother nature take care of watering your garden for you. Therefore pay attention to the weather forecast and only water your garden when it actually needs it.
Other Easy Ways To Save Water
But in addition to our bathrooms, kitchens, and gardens, we use wastewater in a variety of ways. So here are some miscellaneous tips that will save you water all around your home.
- Fix leaks: If your water usage is high, but you aren’t sure why you may have a leak somewhere. The average family can waste 180 gallons of water per week from leaks without even realizing it. By either hiring a plumber or fixing the leaks yourself, you can save hundreds of gallons of water each year that you weren’t even using.
- Sweep driveways: Many people hose off their driveways and sidewalks to keep them looking clean. But just as with watering your lawn, this can be a huge waste of water. Instead, sweep the debris away, and your driveway will look just as clean without wasting a single drop of water.
- Wash your car with a bucket: Car owners often wash their cars in their driveways to save a few bucks going to a carwash. But this can be a huge source of water usage, especially if you wash your car often. So instead of washing your car with a hose, fill up a bucket and reuse the water in it.
- Install a rain barrel: If you want to save water without compromising your lawn or garden, consider getting a rain barrel. A rain barrel will collect the stormwater runoff from recent rains so you can use it later. Therefore, your yard will get all the water it needs without you using the supply from your hose.
Final Thoughts On Saving Water
Many people worry that water conservation means they must significantly compromise their lifestyles to save the planet. But as you can see with these tips, that isn’t the case. By utilizing even just a few of these options, you can save hundreds of gallons of water per year, making both your bank and Mother Nature very happy.
