10 Ways to Conserve Water at Home
- Monitor your water usage on your water bill and ask your local government about a home water audit.
- Install a rain barrel for outdoor watering.
- Don’t overwater your lawn or water during peak periods, and install rain sensors on irrigation systems. Or alternatively, plant a drought resistant garden. Many states give back credits for doing so.
- Update your appliances. Many old appliances use significantly more water than modern water-efficient and water-saving ones. Research the toilets, faucets, showerheads, dishwashers, and clothes washers in your home to determine how much water they use, and look into options that use less water, like dual-flush toilets or low-flow showerheads.
- Take shorter showers. Try reducing the amount of time you spend in the shower every day, to a maximum of 3-5 minutes, or turn off the water in between rinses to conserve water while you’re bathing.
- Use the dishwasher, if possible. It may seem counterintuitive, but washing dishes by hand typically uses more water than the dishwasher. If you don’t have a dishwater, there are ways to conserve water during the washing process. Simply turn off the water when you wash dishes, instead of letting it run.
- Skip the garbage disposal. Garbage disposal units use up a lot of water. Instead of sending chunks of food down the drain, toss them into a compost pile to save water and reduce food waste.
- Turn off the water when brushing your teeth. Letting the faucet run when you brush your teeth is an unnecessary waste of water.
- Check for leaky faucets and hoses. Leaky faucets can waste up to 20 gallons of water every day. If you know you have a faucet that drips, fix it, or replace it as soon as possible to save water (and your utility budget). Even if you don’t think your faucets are leaking, check periodically to make sure.
- Reassess how often you really need to wash your clothes. Part of adulthood seems to be reconciling that laundry is a bottomless chore—especially if you have a family. The average American family washes 300 loads of laundry per year—and every load of laundry uses and average of 41 gallons of water. It might be time to break a habit: Just because we wore a piece of clothing once doesn't mean it's dirty.
