Indoor Water Conservation Tips

We can all do our part to conserve water and to lessen our impact on our watershed.Try one or more of these conservation tips from Water: Use it Wisely and watch the savings add up. A few of our favorite indoor water conservation tips are listed here:

In the Bathroom

• Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth or shaving and you could save up to 8 gallons of water per day.
•  Shorten your shower by a minute or two and you’ll save up to 150 gallons per month
• Check toilets for leaks by adding food coloring to the tank.  If the toilet is leaking, color will appear in the tank within 30 minutes.  A leaky toilet can waste about 200 gallons of water per day.
• Add a water displacement device to your toilet tank, such as a sealed ½ gallon container filled with water (don’t use a brick), to save 1 - 2 gallons per flush. (not recommended on low-flow toilets)

In the Kitchen

• When washing dishes by hand, instead of constantly running the water, fill one basin with soapy water.  Scrub and then quickly rinse soap off under the faucet. 
• Reduce your dependence on the kitchen sink disposal.  Disposals use approximately 2.5 gallons of water per minute to operate.  Instead start a compost pile.
• Run only full loads of dishes in the dishwasher.

Around the House

• Repair leaky faucets.  A faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons of water per year.  
• Run only full loads of laundry in the washing machine.
• Avoid letting water go down the drain when it can be used for watering plants or cleaning messy areas.