Water Efficient / Saving Toilets & More

Being on a well is just another reason to be water smart and not use more water than you actually need. Some people with a well have to be careful they don’t dry their well out by using to much water in a short period of time while others may worry about over filling their septic system, and others just want to conserve as much water as possible.

Whichever group you fit into there are many ways you can conserve large amounts of water a day.

• Water Saving Toilets – Most of the new toilets on the market are water efficient models with less than 1.5 gallons per flush! The toilet we have is 1.2 gallons and after months of usage we have not had a clog or any issues with it yet!If you are a family of 4 and each person uses the toilet 3 times per-day with a non-water saving toilet (2 gallon per flush) that would be 24 gallons of water per-day flushed down the toilet! If you use the water saving toilet that we purchased at 1.2 gallons per flush you would only use 14.4 gallons per-day! That is a huge saving for something you don’t even have to think about once you install it!
  (To go even further with water savings… “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down” never rang more true than when you are trying to save water!)
• Showering – Most people use the most amount of water when they are showering! Luckily there are a couple ways to save water when showering! The easiest is to take shorter showers! If you are using 2 gallons per-minute showering and you cut back 10 minutes you just saved 20 gallons of water! (Showers can take anywhere from 1.4gpm to over 3.5gpm!) Imagine going from a 3.5gpm 20 minute shower to a 10 minute 1.4gpm shower! You would save 56 gallons each day you showered! Now, if everyone in your house did that you would be saving 224 gallons of water per-day! The saving here is amazing! Upgrading to water efficient  or water saving models for your shower head is a must do!
• Take a shower not a bath. The average bath will use anywhere from 50 to 80 gallons depending on the size and how long it takes to warm up your water. Showers are a much smarter choice.
• Washing hands or brushing your teeth – Something else most people do numerous times per-day! The secret to saving water here is to turn off the water while brushing your teeth and only use it to rinse and wet / clean your brush. When washing your hands either turn it on to a slow trickle or wet your hands, scrub, and then turn on again to rinse them all off. The savings here could be 2-10 gallons per-day per-person depending on your water pressure, how many times you brush and wash per-day.
• Hot water circulation system – If you are constantly waiting for the water to get hot before you shower, wash your hands or do dishes you may be waisting over 20 gallons per-day just “waiting”. Investigate hot water circulation systems they use very little energy and will have instant hot water at any tap in theh ouse that you setup with the circulation system.
• Cold Drinking Water – Waiting for water to get ice cold is another water waster. Either drink from the fridge tap if you have one, or keep a pitcher of water in the fridge that will be used for drinking “cold water”. Anytime you just let the faucet run and wait it’s a big waste of water.
• Water the garden early – The cooler it is when you garden the less water is lost to evaporation and more gets into the soil. This also means you don’t have to water as much.
• Wash full loads – of laundry only. Washing small loads may utilize as much water as large loads on some older washing machines. Also wash full loads of dishes if you are using a dish washer because no matter what they use the same amount of water every time, and a small load just wastes the water.

A grey water system is a good way to re-use water that is not “dirty”. Sinks and even showers are used for grey water, and can be used to water your garden, or fill your pond, etc. (Depending how much and what type of soap and chemicals you use, this may not be the right way for you.) There are many ways to do Grey Wayer Systems and for some with the room and time it may be worth checking into.

I`m sure there are many other ways to conserve water but these are just a few easy ways to save water.