Waterwise
In honor of World Water Day, I recently published a gloomy post about the water woes we face, both at home and around the world. Now that you’ve had time to absorb the depressing news, perhaps it’s time for a little bit of uplift. There is a lot that we can do at home to conserve water that will save us money and lighten our personal impact on our water resources and systems. Here are some suggestions to help you get waterwise.
Install Conserving Aerators and Showerheads
Water-efficient aerators and showerheads cost little and are extremely easy to install yourself. Faucets and showerheads typically draw between 4-8 gallons per minute (pgm). Fixtures manufactured after 1992 are required to meet a more stringent standard of 2.5 gpm but there are fixtures out there that use even less water and work just as effectively as those that meet the 1992 standards. By installing one high-efficiency showerhead and one faucet aerator, the average household would save about 7,800 gallons of water per year. You can find low-flow showerheads and aerators at Home Depot or your local hardware store.
Turn It Off When Not in Use
This may be a hackneyed piece of advice but it bears repeating because of the incredible savings potential. Let’s say you install a 1 gpm aerator on your bathroom sink but you run it while you brush your teeth. 2 minutes to brush your teeth x 2 x 365=1460 gallons of water wasted each year. Now add to it the time you leave your sink running while you’re shaving… washing your dishes… It adds up!
Fix Those Leaks
According to EPA’s Water Sense program, 10% of American homes have water leaks that waste more than 90 gallons of water each day. The most common sources of indoor water leaks include leaking toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and other leaking valves. Is your toilet running or your faucet dripping? Get it fixed and stop pouring money down your drain! For more information and tips on how to detect leaks, check out Leak Facts on the Water Sense website.
Buy Water Sense & Energy Star Labeled Products
When it’s time to replace your fixtures or appliances, buy the most energy and water efficient products available. The government sponsored Water Sense and Energy Star programs provide a good baseline for efficiency, but often there are products that are even more efficient. For example, WaterSense labeled faucets need to use no more than 2gpm. However I have a Hansgrohe faucet that uses 1.5 gpm.
Water Smart
The average American household spends about 30% of its water budget on irrigation. In MA, water use rises sharply during the summer months (from 55 gpcd to 82.5 gpcd). If you are anywhere near the Average American, you are likely overwatering your lawn and garden–as much as 50% of water applied to landscapes is lost due to evaporation, wind or runoff from overwatering! If you have an irrigation system, start the spring season off right by auditing your irrigation system. Check out these tips from EPA WaterSense or consider hiring a certified WaterSense landscape professional. S/he may suggest fixes like a rain or climate sensor, turning off zones for established beds, watering less and earlier in the day, turning down sprinkler heads, replacing them with a drip system, etc.
Follow these tips and replace (at least some of) your water woes with wisdom!
2 Comments
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Very nice summary of the resources out there for reducing water use at home. One of the best ways to save water that I’ve come upon:
Installing a soil moisture sensor to your existing sprinkler controller. Typical sprinkler controllers use timers to decide when to water and when to not water, which means they are left on even while it’s raining. A retrofit like this would assure that water is only used when the soil actually needs it, so it makes the controller “smart”.
Since sprinkler systems use more water then any other area in the house, these usually pay for themselves pretty quickly. Any contractor recommended by John Deere or Ewing should offer this among other water saving tools that make a big difference!
Comment by Jonathan — May 12, 2010 @ 9:22 am
Hi Jonathan, Thanks for adding your two cents about moisture sensors for irrigation systems. I agree that moisture sensors are an absolute must for any eco-friendly/eco-smart irrigation system.
Comment by Rachel White — May 12, 2010 @ 5:02 pm