25
Things You Can Do to Prevent Water Waste

9 Things you can do to save water in the bathroom
- Check your toilets
for leaks. Put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing,
the color begins to appear in the bowl, you have a leak that should be repaired
immediately.
- Stop using the
toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket. Every time you flush a cigarette butt,
facial tissue, or other small bit of trash, you waste five to seven gallons
of water.
- Put plastic
bottles in your toilet tank. To cut down on water waste, put an inch or two
of sand or pebbles inside each of two plastic bottles to weigh them down.
Fill them with water and put them in your toilet tank, safely away from operating
mechanisms. In an average home, the bottles may displace and save ten or more
gallons of water a day.
- Take shorter
showers. Long, hot showers can waste five to ten gallons every unneeded minute.
Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap, wash down, and rinse off.
- Install water-saving
showerheads or flow restrictors. Your local hardware or plumbing supply store
stocks inexpensive water-saving showerheads or restrictors that are easy to
install.
- Take baths.
A bath in a partially filled tub uses less water than all but the shortest
showers.
- Turn off the
water after you wet your toothbrush. There is no need to keep water pouring
down the drain. Just wet your brush and fill a glass for mouth rinsing.
- Rinse your razor
in the sink. Fill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of warm water.
This will rinse your blade just as well as running water. And far less wastefully.
- Check faucets
and pipes for leaks. Even the smallest drip from a worn washer can waste 20
or more gallons a day. Larger leaks can waste hundreds.
6 Things you can do to save water in the kitchen and laundry
- Use your automatic
dishwasher only for full loads.
- Use your automatic
washing machine only for full loads.
- If you wash
dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing. If you have two
sinks, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you have only
one sink, gather washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a spray
device or a pan full of hot water.
- Don't let the
faucet run while you clean vegetables. Just rinse them in a stoppered sink
or a pan of clean water.
- Keep a bottle
of drinking water in the refrigerator. Running tap water to cool it off for
drinking water is wasteful.
- Check faucets
and pipes for leaks. Leaks waste water 24 hours a day, seven days a week and
often can be repaired with only an inexpensive washer.
10 things you can do to save water outside
- Water your lawn
only when it needs it. A good way to see if your lawn needs watering is to
step on the grass. If it springs back up when you move, it doesn't need water.
If it stays flat, fetch the sprinkler.
- Deep-soak your
lawn. When you do water, do it long enough for the moisture to soak down to
the roots where it will do the most good. A light sprinkling can evaporate
quickly and tends to encourage shallow root systems.
- Water during
the cool parts of the day. Early morning generally is better than dusk since
it helps prevent growth of fungus.
- Don't water
the gutter. Position your sprinklers so water lands on the lawn or garden,
not on paved areas. Also avoid watering on windy days.
- Plant drought-resistant
trees and plants. Many beautiful trees and plants thrive with far less watering
than other species.
- Put a layer
of mulch around trees and plants. Mulch will slow evaporation of moisture
and discourage weed growth, too.
- Use a broom,
not a hose, to clean driveways and sidewalks.
- Don't run the
hose while washing your car. Clean the car with a pail of soapy water. Use
the hose just to rinse it off.
- Tell your children
not to play with the hose and sprinklers.
- Check for leaks
in pipes, hoses, faucets, and couplings. Leaks outside the house may not seem
as bad since they're not as visible. But they can be just as wasteful as leaks
inside. Check frequently and keep them drip-free.
Town
of West Point
Box 152 or 329 Sixth Street, West Point, Virginia 23181 Phone:804-843-3330 FAX:
804-843-4364