Tips to Conserve Water

In recent decades, human demand and climate change have placed unprecedented pressure on our national water resources. And while some regions have experienced higher than average rainfall, many parts of the US are suffering record dryness.

The water that runs through our showers, sinks, toilets and hoses is potable, which means it is clean enough to drink. About 13 million US households get their water from wells, but most of us get our water from water treatment systems that use massive amounts of energy to purify about 38 billion gallons of water a day. That means that when we use water, we’re also using energy, and by reducing our water use we also conserve energy.

Most of the fresh water used in the US goes to agriculture (for watering crops), power plants (for cooling), and industry (for manufacturing goods). In fact, our energy system is responsible for 39 percent of our entire fresh water use, our farms use 40 percent, and our factories use about 5 percent. Together, these three sectors drink up over 300 billion gallons of fresh water per day! Our home and businesses also use a fair amount of water everyday.

Here are a few tips to reduce your water usage:

• Take shorter showers. Install low-flow showerheads. With an older showerhead, a typical 5-minute shower uses 20 gallons of water.

• Place a bucket in the shower while waiting for the water to warm up and use that collected water for watering your plants or flushing toilets.

• Turn the water off when you are brushing your teeth or shaving.

• When washing dishes by hand, don’t leave the water running the whole time.

• Run the washing machine and dishwasher only when full.

• If you have a pool use a pool cover and save hundreds of gallons of water from evaporating.

• Water your lawn or garden in early hours of the day to prevent water loss to evaporation.

• Set up sprinklers so they don’t water the sidewalks or driveway. Better yet, use drip irrigation.

• When washing your car turn the hose off when you suds up and scrub the car.

• Use a rain barrel positioned under a rain gutter or under your roof to collect rainwater for use in watering your garden or lawn. Be sure to keep the rain barrel safely covered.

• Recycle everything you can.

• Pick up litter in your neighborhood and on your school grounds - everything eventually ends up in a water body.

Here’s an interesting question: Do you know where the Ogallala Aquifer is and why it’s so important to America?

The above information was taken from: h2oconserve.org. Visit this website for a water calculator and many more tips on how you can conserve water.