Precious Water

Make Every Drop Count

Even though 70% of the world is covered by water, less than 1% is fresh enough to drink or use. With so little fresh water, we need to conserve all that we can.

• Harvest your roof rainwater with guttering and water butt.
• Turn off the water tap (faucet) when brushing your teeth.
• Use your dishwasher and washing machine only when they are full. Try to avoid small, partial loads.
• Compost food scraps instead of using your garbage disposal. You’ll save gallons of water every time and have a great soil amendment for your garden.
• Clean your driveway or sidewalk with a broom instead of hosing it down with water. You’ll save at least 80 gallons of water every time.
• Don’t use running water to thaw food.

The Problem

Groundwater is being used at a rate 25 percent greater than its rate of replenishment. What's more, as more pollutants spill into our water systems there will be even less clean, fresh water available for consumption.

What you can do

Install a low-flow showerhead - Showers account for 32 percent of home water use. The law now requires that all showerheads sold be low-flow models. Low-flow showerheads deliver no more than 2.5 gallons per minute compared to standard showerheads that release 4.5 gallons per minute. A family of four using low-flow showerheads can save about 20,000 gallons of water per year.

Install an ultra-low-flush toilet or a toilet displacement device - Toilets are water hogs. About 40 percent of the water you use in your home gets flushed down the toilet. That amounts to more than 4 billion gallons of water in the U.S. each day. That's why federal law now mandates that all new toilets installed for residential use be low-flush toilets.
Conventional toilets generally use 3.5 to 5 gallons (sometimes more) of water per flush, while low-flush toilets use 1.6 gallons of water or less. If you're not building a new home, you can still benefit by installing one of these toilets. Still have an old toilet? You can save more than 1 gallon of water per flush with a displacement device - a brick or plastic milk jug filled with water or pebbles placed in the toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush.

Install flow restrictor aerators - Placing these inside taps saves 3 to 4 gallons per minute when you turn on the tap. Of course, you can also help out by doing simple things such as not running water in the sink while soaping your face or brushing your teeth.

Repair leaks - Fix those leaking and dripping taps as soon as possible. A dripping tap can waste up to 20 gallons of water per day. A leaking toilet can waste up to 200 gallons every day.

Landscape in tune with the natural environment - If you're landscaping, use plants that are native to your area. Growing native plants can save more than half the water normally used to care for outdoor plants. Raising thirsty plants in arid areas means having to drown them almost daily in gallons of sprinkler or irrigation water. In dry areas, xeriscape landscaping uses plants that need little water, thereby not only saving water and labor, but also preventing pollution from the use of fertilizers. If you must water your lawn, water early or late in the day or on cooler days to reduce evaporation. Allow your grass to grow a bit taller to reduce water loss by providing more ground shade for roots and promoting soil water retention.

Use water wisely in everyday activities. Water is wasted more quickly than you might think. An open tap lets about 5 gallons of water flow every 2 minutes. In the kitchen, you can save between 10 and 20 gallons of water a day by running the dishwasher only when it's full. You can save even more by washing dishes by hand in a sink or dishpan containing water, rather than running the tap continuously as you scrub. Run the clothes washer only when full as well. Taking a shorter shower (turn off the showerhead while soaping) will also save a lot of water. Sweep sidewalks and driveways instead of hosing them down -- washing a sidewalk or driveway with a hose uses about 50 gallons of water every 5 minutes.

If your local water quality isn’t what it should be, it’s likely your watershed needs more attention, not less.

Environmental Impact of Bottled Water

• Fossil fuel consumption. Approximately 1.5 million barrels of oil—enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year—are used to make plastic water bottles, while transporting these bottles burns thousands more gallons of oil. In addition, the burning of oil and other fossil fuels emits global warming pollution into the atmosphere.
• Water consumption. The growth in bottled water production has increased water extraction in areas near bottling plants, leading to water shortages that affect nearby consumers and farmers. In addition to the millions of gallons of water used in the plastic-making process, two gallons of water are wasted in the purification process for every gallon that goes into the bottles.
• Waste. Only about 10 percent of water bottles are recycled, leaving the rest in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose.

So please avoid bottled water, use tap water (get a filter if you question the quality) and if you must buy bottles, make sure you recycle.