Water Conservation

When temperatures soar, so does most people's water consumption. You know what we do - we fill the pool in the back yard, water the lawn, take longer, colder showers etc. Right now, many areas of our country are trying to survive drought conditions which requires mandatory water conservation. Of course, conserving water is not something that should be limited to times of drought. Conserving our most valuable and life sustaining resource is vital at all times (plus, it can save you some money!).

Here are a few helpful and easy tips for conserving water:

• When washing dishes by hand, don't let the water run while rinsing. Fill up one sink with dish water and the other with rinse water.
• Don't leave your faucet running while you brush your teeth.
• Run your clothes washer and dishwasher when FULL. This can save you several hundreds of gallons a MONTH. Yes, you read that right - PER MONTH.
• When landscaping, use drought-tolerant native plants instead of plants that may require excessive watering.
• Switch your shower-head to a low-flow version especially if your shower fills up a gallon bucket in under 20 seconds.
• When doing laundry, always match the water level to the size of the load you are washing.
  
• Avoid watering your lawn on windy days. The water will just blow away and evaporate which doesn't benefit your lawn at all and wastes water.
• If you NEED to wash your car, try to find a car wash that RECYCLES the wash water.
• Washing dark colored clothes in cold water saves on energy and water PLUS it helps maintain your dark colors (a win-win situation!).
• When washing your hands, don't let the water run while you lather your hands.
  
• Keep a pitcher of cold water in the fridge instead of letting the water run cold from the tap.
• Shorten the length of your shower by a couple of minutes and save about 5 gallons of water per shower!
• When washing fruits and veggies, use a pan of water to wash them instead of letting the water run over them.
• Check your home inside and out for any water leaks. Sometimes sprinkler heads leak and waste LOTS of water.

See? Pretty easy, huh? Maybe you can think of ways to save water that aren't on this list and you can share them with friends and family. If we all pitch in, we can save a ton (literally) of water. When you consider that the average American home uses about 260 gallons of water per day (during peak season the average household can use about 1,000 gallons of water in a day), a little conservation can go a LONG way!

Until next time, keep it clean (but save water while doing it!).