A small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste 20 gallons of water per day. A leaky toilet can waste 200 gallons per day. If you are unsure whether you have a leak, read your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak. If you have a well at home, check your pump periodically. If the pump turns on and off while the water is not in use, you have a leak.
Savings: 8 - 200 gallons per day
Just Add Air
You can double the efficiency of a kitchen faucet made before 1994 by installing a low-flow aerator. This quick, cost-efficient project, along with a change in habits, can save hundreds of gallons a year.
Savings: 100s of gallons a year
Bathing for Dollars
A full bathtub requires about 70 gallons of water, while taking a five-minute shower uses 10 to 25 gallons. If you take a bath, stopper the drain immediately and adjust the temperature as you fill the tub.
Savings: 45 – 60 gallons per shower (per person)
Shower Shortage
A four-minute shower uses approximately 20 to 40 gallons of water. Inexpensive water-saving low-flow shower heads or restrictors are easy for the homeowner to install. "Low-flow" means it uses less than 2.5 gallons per minute.
Savings: 10 – 30 gallons per shower (per person)
Brushing
The average bathroom faucet flows at a rate of two gallons per minute. Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth can save up to 8 gallons of water per day, which equals 240 gallons a month!
Savings: 8 gallons per day (per person)
Shaving Savings
The average bathroom faucet flows at a rate of two gallons per minute. Rinse your razor in the sink filled with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your razor just as well as running water, with far less waste of water.
Savings: 5 gallons per shave (per person)
Fill 'er Up
The average washing machine uses about 41 gallons of water per load. High-efficiency washing machines use less than 28 gallons of water per load. To achieve even greater savings, wash only full loads of laundry or use the appropriate load size selection on the washing machine.
Savings: 13 gallons per load
Dishwasher
There are many water saving and energy saving models to choose from. Scrape, rather than washing plates before you load them. Air dry and only wash full loads.
Savings: 3-12 gallons per load
Tame Your Toilet
Your toilet's tank is full of treated drinking water. This means that energy is being wasted to clean water that will be mixed with urine and feces and flushed away, only to be treated again! If your toilet is from 1992 or earlier, you probably have an inefficient model that uses at least 3.5 gallons per flush. New and improved high-efficiency models use less than 1.3 gallons per flush. That's at least 60 percent less than their older, less efficient counterparts. If you can't afford a new toilet, then put a brick or filled water bottle in the tank to reduce the amount needed to fill the tank.
Savings: 2.2 gallons per flush
Smart Flushing
With each toilet flush, we are literally throwing water imported from outside our watersheds and then heavily treated to drinking standards down the toilet. Why not install a rainwater and/or graywater system, which can fill your tank with properly treated water you've harvested yourself? For a manual graywater system, put a bucket under the faucet while your shower water is heating up and then use that water to flush your toilet.
Say "No!" to Flow
Turn off your kitchen sink instead of letting the water run over dishes and vegetables. Better to partially fill up a small tub or bowl for rinsing. When you are done, you can pour the water into the soil around nonedible plants. When washing dishes by hand, use the least amount of detergent possible. This minimizes the rinse water needed. Don't turn on your faucet full blast when just a trickle of water will do.
Garbage In, Water Out
In-sink garbage disposals require lots of water, and add considerably to the volume of solids delivered to waste water systems and septic tanks. Start a compost pile or worm composter for kitchen scraps as an alternative method for disposing of food waste. You can use the compost on your water-wise garden or contribute to your city's compost pick-up plan.
Savings: 50-150 gallons per month
Recyclables Relief
Only rinse recyclables with minimal water before putting them in collection bins. Plastics with food residue may need wiping, but glass & metal is recycled at high temperatures that vaporize food.
Brooms - Not Just for Witches Anymore
Use a broom instead of a hose to clean driveways and sidewalks. This saves as much as 150 gallons of water each time.
Savings: 150 gallons per cleaning
Devise a Device
Now that saving water has become popular, you can add many water saving appliances, such as low-flow faucets, low-flow toilets, low-flow showerheads, water efficient laundry and dishwashers. There are many rebates throughout California available for these items. Visit our products page [LINK] to find the water savers appropriate for you.
Savings: Thousands of gallons a year.
Just Add Hot Water
Installing an on-demand water heater will reduce the amount of water you waste waiting for the water to heat. While waiting you can also capture running water in a bucket, and distribute it to your needy plants. Better yet, install a graywater system.
Cool Cycle
Collect water drips from air conditioning units or collection buckets on dehumidifiers for use on plants or trees.
Pool Party
- Avoid evaporation by keeping your pool covered. About 95% of pool water that is lost to evaporation can be saved with the use of a cover.
- Lower pool level to avoid splash-out. Water that is unavoidably splashed out can be channeled onto the landscape or back into the pool.
- Reduce the water used to back-flush pool filters.
- Check the pool regularly for cracks and leaks (including pressure grouting, liners and drain valves) and make repairs regularly.
- "Harvest" pool backwash for plants when chlorine levels are less than 3 ppm.
- You can keep it full with properly filtered rainwater that you have harvested and stored on site.
Fish Poop Soup
When cleaning out fish tanks, give the nutrient-rich water to your plants. After steaming vegetables, let the nutrient-rich water cool and then water a plant with it.
