5 cheap ways to save 1,000 gallons of water
Water is humanity's most valuable resource. Want to green your usage? These ideas cost next to nothing and can each save 1,000 gallons a year.
EVERY DROP COUNTS: These simple tips save H20 and money. (Photo: Pink Sherbet Photography/Flickr) 
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If you have two knobs, it takes so long to get the right temperature that it isn't worth turning the water off again before you're done.Arimidex is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is an enzyme that helps produce estrogen, particularly estradiol. In post-menapausal women, the majority of ... arimidex
So every drop was $, and if you used too much you would run out and have to wait for the next haul. Shutting off water when brushing teeth and other conservation was just daily life, not some special action. I was amazed when I went to college and students just let the water run while they showered! Arimidex is an aromatase inhibitor. Aromatase is an enzyme that helps produce estrogen, particularly estradiol. In post-menapausal women, the majority of ... .... More
Hello - FYI in c ase you haven't already seen it - the EPA's WaterSense program recently posted a list of water-conserving tips similar to this one.
Here's the link: http://epa.gov/watersense/water_efficiency/when_its_hot.html
Here's an excerpt of the comment I sent to the EPA in response: While this info is good as
I collect dish water in a bucket and use it to flush my toilet. I also collect water from my shower water and also use to flush. I also only take one minute showers and some days use the sponge bath method.
Recycle water from blanching vegetables into the garden or use it to make a broth. Use the day old pet water on the plants. Use the shortest cycle on the washing machine. Save the old coffee and pour it in the compost or water some plants with it.
My grandmother told me back in the day they use to take baths back in the day, and only had a certain amount of water they could use.
Great blog,
My household collects the dismaying amount of water used for washing dishes, and vegetables, and uses it for flushing toilets by hand (and, of course, gravity). Has cut our water bill in half.
I, too, turn off the shower to lather up. I also have two rainwater barrels for my garden. Did the lo-flo showerheads and low flush toilets, too. When I first get into the shower I collect the cold water in a bucket to use on my house plants. Any excess goes in my garden in the summer. And I have a water powered shower light that changes colour when the water's warming up so I know when to stop collecting cold water and step in to get wet. (It's an Sylvania ECOlight- not enough light to.... More
There is a low flow shower head that also has the cutoff valve mentioned earlier. I only see this shower head in Gaiam (7th Generations cataloge) or Real Goods. This shower head is never sold with the luxury kind even in Gaiam. It means I can shave my legs in the shower, I cut myself balancing at the sink. this little device uses less that the 2.5 for many that get lots more press.
I also use my dogs' old bucket water for plants. My dogs are giant breeds and drink out of mop.... More
Waterpik has a 1.5GPM showerhead. It can be found at most bed-and-bath stores, and at home improvement places like Home Depot. It's approximately $45, and in my household has paid for itself very quickly. It's got all the features of a typical Waterpik showerhead, and the "shut off" feature that cuts the water to a trickle when lathering up and the like. I've purchased them for my last three homes, and the low flow improvements I did at those places were appreciated by those I left behind..... More
shower with a friend or a loved one
It's not much, but I never seem to finish the glass of water I take to bed with me. The next day, instead of pouring the stale water out, it goes in the dog dish. The dogs don't mind day old water at all.
Installing low-flow shower heads and instant-off motion sensors for faucets are great ways to make water conservation even easier. With an instant-off sensor, you don't have to remember to turn off the tap when you brush your teeth...the faucet just does it for you! Check it out: .... More
And how much energy is wasted with the gadgets? Isn't it simply easier to re-train yourself to shut off the water?
After rinsing greens and lettuce I use the rinse water to water my houseplants. I simply keep my watering can in the kitchen and fill it up with the veggie water, then use as needed.
Another easy way to save water is this. Fill a large (one or two quart size) plastic beverage bottle with water, cover tightly and put in your toilet tank where it doesn't interfere with the mechanism. The water level will rise to the correct point and each time you flush, you will save the amount of water that is in the bottle. I've used this system for several years now.
Enter your comments here In the UK we've been told to put a brick in the cistern, which means you use even less water. Some water companies have also been giving out a plastic 'hippo', which is basically an oblong blue bag with sides stiff enough to stand up.
Use your sump pump water for your lawn. Install a flexible plastic hose in your sump pump exterior pipes for your grass, just transfer the end hose location everyday in different spot, or you may connect the flexible plastic hose to a plastic drum with overflow pipes and outlet faucet for garden hose to water your grass
I just had a custom home built, there are NO bathtubs in the house, only low flow showers. All but the (two button flush)toilet water goes to tanks buried in the back yard.(So does the rain water and dew off the metal roof We use biodegradable soaps, which allows us to take all that water, run it through a sand/charcoal filter and use it to water the yard (underground system), fill the pool etc. The new house is 7,500 sq ft, vs our old 1,400 sq ft house, and we just adopted 4 children from the.... More
Sounds effective. But good luck selling the place down the road!
saving all that water to fill the pool! not much difference than saving all that water to water a golf course!! how about filling your pool not with water and all those chemicals that go along with it but wih soil and veggies.
Rain water is one of the purest form of water. Conserve it!!. All you need to do is to divert the run off water from your roof to water storage tank after filtering it using river sand /broken bricks and finally a topping of charcoal. Storage tanks need'int be expensive. You could connect 10-20 200ltr plastic drums (after cleaning them properly)which can be had for free or a few $s at the local junk merchant/dump. Make a pit of 2m by 2m and lead the overflow from the tank to this pit and.... More
I keep a pail and a pitcher in my bathroom. It takes about 30 seconds for the water in my shower to run hot, So I catch that cold water in a pail,and a pitcher. I use this water for hand-washing, watering plants, and take the surplus to the kitchen to rinse dishes. Sometimes it's a bit of a nuisance, but it probably saves 3 gallons a day..
I keep my watering can underneath my AC unit so when it drips water it falls into my can and I then use the water to water my plants.
Enter your comments here
For those who like to take baths rather than showers, use old jugs (cat litter containers work really well) and collect the used water. This can be poured in the back of the toilet after it is flushed.
its also quite easy keep a two or five gallon bucket in the shower and use whatever water it catches to fill the tank after you flush. (the other no- brainer here is that you don't have to flush the toilet every single time you pee!)
While enrolling seniors in a natural gas saving program, one lady told me of how she saved dollars (DOLLARS) by saving her bath & shower water in the tub and using it to flush the toilet. I tried the idea and now use it. It cuts water consumption nearly in half!
These are all great tips. My isn't original but useful. After you boil veggies/eggs, etc. let the water cool and use it to water house plants. Also, after your child bathes, save the bath water and use it to scrub up Fido! He won't mind!
I run 4-5 times a week but only have 3 sets of running gear and no one in the family allows me to mix my running gear with the rest of the clothes in a load of wash. So I now after a run I throw my running clothes into the shower and use them to scrub with.
Get wet, turn off the shower, lather up a sock, scrub a bit, throw it down in the bottom of the shower. Repeat the process for the rest of the clothes. While scrubbing I stomp around a bit on the clothes. At the end of the.... More
It's amazing how paying attention to how the water filters out of the faucet can make you more in tune to the general environmental concerns in your home life. I wasn't always like that. In fact, like most people, I was extremely wasteful.
However, I'm striving to get better. It helps to have wonderful resources like this to learn more tricks of the trade. For the last year or two, I've been washing dishes by hand. It took a long time to come
GEE, THE FOLKS YOU LIVE WITH SURE ARE MEAN! :~(
Great tips, the one about the dish washing in the sink is a great idea. I'm going to have to try it with just a tub of clean water to rinse them all. Since my dishwasher isn't the best I use it for a drying rack and don't have room for anything else in my kitchen. Also, a great way for women to save on water in the shower is to shave in the sink, just fill it up a little and then hop in the shower. I hate to see the water run while trying to balance in the shower anyways.
I lived in AZ for decades and am now shocked that water costs more here in Michigan than it ever did there. This state is proof that raising the prices won't prevent people from wasting it. My neighbors think my rain barrel is a blight on the neighborhood. They see anything that saves money or water as a personal fiscal failure.
I moved from Michigan 3 years ago due to the inability to find a job for 5 YEARS!! I am a highly trained professional with impecable credentials, and ended up working a minimum wage job with no insurance. Try supporting a family of 4 on that! The state is in a horrible economic condition and misuses funds in public offices that are extremely inefficient. I believe this is why the state is falling apart economically. Makes me laugh to see the "pure Michigan" commercials that are trying to.... More
Place a pitcher under your faucet when you turn the hot water on and collect the cold water that comes out first. Check each faucet in the house, and you may be amazed at how much cold water is wasted while waiting for the hot. My kitchen sink wastes 1/2 gallon each time - multiply that out per day/week/year! I keep a pitcher there and use that cold water for pets and plants. That cold water takes energy to clean and pump to the house, then energy to treat is as sewage even though it is clean..... More
If you really want to get cheap, you could get in the shower, get wet, turn the shower off, lather up with soap, turn the shower on, rinse the soap off, turn the shower off, lather up with shampoo, turn the shower on, rinse the shampoo out, turn the shower off, and then get out.
That's what they do in Europe.
There is a shower head that is easy to find, that has a little lever that will let you get wet, press the lever and the water stops while you soap up. Push the leaver and rinse off. I think this is what they use on boats.
That's where it's nice to have a lever that allows you to turn the water on and off at the correct temperature. (Better than a water-saving showerhead.) If you have two knobs, it takes so long to get the right temperature that it isn't worth turning the water off again before you're done.
That's how boaters shower, as they're limited to the water in the tanks.
Showering as described above was required when I was growing up, as we had our water hauled to our house one tankful at a time (yes, in America in the 1970's & 1980's). So every drop was $, and if you used too much you would run out and have to wait for the next haul. Shutting off water when brushing teeth and other conservation was just daily life, not some special action. I was amazed when I went to college and students just let the water run while they showered!
I have been trying for over a year and half to convince the Economic Security Corp. (govt. supported) to not only improve homes for energy use, but for water use. In SW Missouri it is estimated they spend about $6000 on each home. If they were to include doing toliets, faucets and shower heads it would only add about $900 to that overall cost. The time to fix these would be a day or less and accomplish an immediate water savings and could use the same crew that is there doing energy.... More
