“Water is a scarce resource and we all must play our part in conserving it.”
You must have heard it multiple times.
After all, Americans use more than 300 billion gallons of water every day and even the most trivial act of saving water that you perform matters. Here, water conservation does not mean you don’t wash your dishes, and clothes or flush your toilets. Instead, it is all about using water more smartly. And when it comes to implementing smart solutions related to water, there is no one who as knowledgeable as a professional plumber.
Below, we have compiled 8 water conservation tips by an expert plumber that every homeowner must know and practice at home for conserving water.
Keep a Check on Your Water Bills
One of the most important aspects of water conservation is keeping a check on your water bill. By thoroughly studying your water bill, you get to know about the water usage in your house. In case, your water bill does not reflect adequate usage, it can be used to identify any possible water leakages in your plumbing system.
Moreover, only when you know about the usage of water in your house, you can come with ideas to conserve water; at least within your home.
Small Leaks Matter
“The average leaks in the household lead to the wastage of around 10,000 gallons of water every year. Moreover, 10% of households have leakages that result in the loss of almost 90 gallons of water per day.” These numbers are huge and they matter because water is a scarce resource.
If your faucet drips even once every second, you end up wasting 3,000 gallons of water every year. Therefore, as soon as you notice a small leak in any of your pipes or faucets, it is best to address the leaks immediately. Call in a professional plumber who can either repair or replace your plumbing fixture and fix the leaks. And if you look at the amount of money you will spend on the visit by a plumber, the cost is way low compared to the loss of water from all or any of the small leaks in your house.
Go for Smart Toilets and Shower Heads
Even if your toilet does not leak, it can still be draining a lot of water. Toilets account for almost 30% of the average water consumption in a household. A single time flush can use anywhere between 1.4 to 2.0 gallons of water and if you use the toilet five times a day and flush it every single time, you would be using around 3,600 gallons of water every year.
One of the recommendations by professional plumbers to conserve water is to replace old toilets with new water-saving toilets. This replacement is expected to reduce your water usage by almost 13,000 gallons a year. Moreover, a standard showerhead uses around 2.5 gallons of water per minute. But if you replace it with a water-efficient showerhead, you can reduce your water consumption to 2 gallons of water per minute of a shower. And if you think this saving is negligible, think again. Even if you save 0.5 gallons of water per minute and you take an average of 10-minute showers everyday, you can save 5 gallons a day and more than 1,800 gallons of water a year.
Reuse
Generally, people are not very comfortable with the idea of reusing water from bathroom sinks, showers, tubs, or washing machines. But if you look at it from a practical stand view, it is perhaps one of the best ways to conserve water. You can use this water for sprinkling in your yard, and you can even install a recirculating system where you can use sink water for flushing your toilets. However, it is best to reuse water within 24 hours as longer storage may result in an unpleasant odor.
Be Mindful as You Brush Your Teeth
On average, around two gallons of water flows through a typical faucet at home. And if you brush your teeth for two minutes, imagine the water you are wasting twice a day, every day! The same goes when the water keeps flowing as you wash your face.
How can you save this water? The solution is simple. Just turn off the faucet as you are brushing your teeth or washing your face. Turn it on when required.
Dishes and Clothes
As mentioned earlier, you should turn on the faucet when required. So whenever you are doing the dishes by hand or washing any of your garments in the sink, be mindful and turn off the water when you don’t need it.
A possible way to conserve water as you wash your dishes with hand is to install a double basin where you can fill one sink with soapy water and the other with clean water. This way you can wash your dishes without wasting much water.
Keep Your Pool Covered
If you have a swimming pool in your home, it is best to keep it covered. When sunlight hits your pool water, it leads to water loss through evaporation. By covering your pool, you can reduce this loss of water by around 30%. Moreover, it is best to keep a check on any possible leakages in your pool.
Mulch Your Yard
Evaporation is not just a concern for swimming pools but it also affects your yards. Sunlight can lead to loss of water from the top layer of soil in your yard that can affect plant health. Moreover, you need to water your yard more frequently. To keep your plants hydrated, you can mulch around them. Mulching simply means adding a layer of material that can prevent water loss from the plants. Through mulching, you can reduce water loss by around 33%.
Finding a Professional Plumber
With our 8 water conservation tips, you can play your part in saving one of the most precious resources on this planet. To know more about how you can conserve water in your Arizona home, contact Mesa Plumbing. Our professional plumbers can help you resolve all plumbing problems that are contributing to water loss in your home. We are committed to customer service throughout the week. To know more about our services or to schedule an appointment, call now at 480-832-1660 or visit our website.