Tips to Conserve Water This Summer

Conserving water is important any time of year, but especially so in the summer. The warm weather encourages us to use more H2O, and less of it is falling from the sky than any other season. Paired with the growing commonality of droughts and water shortages, there has never been a better time to implement some quick and easy methods for using less water. We’ve got plenty of ways you can conserve water this summer without completely uprooting your lifestyle. Which ones will you try this summer?

Outside Job

Water does not last very long in the sun; most of it evaporates before it has a chance to accomplish anything. This is true of any season, but the sun’s direct rays in the summertime can exacerbate the problem. Watering your yard in the morning or in the evenings, when the sun is low, gives the water more time to nourish your yard’s thirst. By timing your watering to be more efficient, your yard will remain better hydrated and require less water overall.

Even if you water in the morning or evening, you might still be wasting water. Check that your sprinklers are watering your actual yard, and not the surrounding driveway or sidewalk. What could be providing life-sustaining nourishment to your lawn and plants is instead going to waste on the concrete. Drip irrigation systems can be a more-efficient solution to your watering problems. Instead of spray water every which way, they drip just the right amount, right where you need it.

Rain sensors can also prevent your sprinklers from using up water when it is already falling from the sky. If it is raining, they do not come on as planned. Rain barrels are a great way to also make the most of the rain. Once you’ve collected rain from simply running off your roof and into the street, you can put that captured water to good use. It can be the perfect way to supplement your existing lawn routine if you do not have sprinklers. Use that water to manually water your lawn, instead of letting the hose run off into the yard.

By timing your watering to be more efficient, your yard will remain better hydrated and require less water overall.

Spring a Leak

The bathroom can be one of the biggest culprits when it comes to wasting water. Your toilet might be leaking without your knowledge. Even fully-functioning toilets can be wasteful if they are older (compare the old 5-7 gallons of water per flush to modern models that use just 1.6). While completely replacing your toilets is not a very quick process, checking for leaks certainly is! First, remove the tank cover and add a few drops of food coloring to the water. Next, wait about half an hour. After the time is up, check the water in the bowl. If it has taken on the same color as your food coloring, you have a leak. Remedying the leak can be as simple as replacing the flapper in the toilet. Make sure the kind you buy matches your toilet’s make and model. If that does not solve the leak, you may need to repair or replace the flush mechanism. Contact your plumber to be sure.

Dripping faucets can also be a problem. Sure, it seems like a drop in the bucket, but if those drops fall one a second, that faucet can waste up to 2,700 gallons of water in a year! Letting the problem go unchecked will allow the problem to worsen. Leaky faucets can be a quick home fix, without calling a plumber. Simply purchase a DIY repair kit at your local hardware store.

If you have solved all the leaks in your bathroom, there is still one major modification to be made in the shower. “But I don’t have any leaks in my shower!” we hear you say. True, but the biggest drip in the shower could be YOU! If you are fond of baths, take a moment to process this: each time you fill up the tub, you use anywhere 30 and 50 gallons of water. If you refill the tub when the water cools off, double that number. Showers are a much more efficient use of water when it comes to personal hygiene.

Though better than baths, even showers can be a problem. Old showerheads use about 20 gallons of water in a single shower. Swapping out that old showerhead with a modern, low-flow showerhead can bring that number down to 10. Of course, the duration of your shower will impact how much water goes (literally) down the drain, so make an effort to keep them short. Cutting just two minutes off your typical shower can save as much as 1,750 gallons of water per person per year! If you are really committed, try turning off the shower while you shave or scrub your hair. Another way to make the most of the shower water? Use a bucket to collect the water that is wasted as you wait for it to warm up. This serves like a little rain barrel; the water can be reused outside in your lawn. If the water is soapy for any reason, just make sure the soap you use is safe for plants.

Cutting just two minutes off your typical shower can save as much as 1,750 gallons of water per person per year.

Wash It, Mister

Showers are not the only wash space that can be a big water waster. If you are hand-washing dishes, you could be using as much as 27 gallons of water each time. Yikes! Compare this to an Energy-Star dishwasher that uses just three gallons. Let that convenient machine do the work for you, and prevent those pruney hands. Really, it is a win-win.

The same thing goes for washing fruits and veggies or thawing meats under the tap. Instead of holding your produce under the faucet to clean it off, wash them in a bowl. Then, use the water to (you guessed it) water those outdoor plants! For thawing meat, throw them in the fridge instead. You will save over three quarts of water each time.

Washing machines, much like the other household appliances here, have come a long way even in the past 10 years. Never fear if your washing machine is not state of the art. A few techniques can reduce its H2O consumption no matter its age. First, always wash full loads, and if you must wash a light load, adjust the water level to match. Also, try to avoid the permanent-press setting, which really brings in the water for the final rinse cycle.

Once you have successfully modified how you wash yourself, your produce, your meats and your clothes, it is time to consider how you wash your car. Washing your car at home can use as much as 100 gallons of water, versus the commercial models that use roughly 40 gallons. Plus, it is a lot more fun to “drive” through a car wash and watch the machine squirt that unicorn rainbow concoction all over your windshield than to scrub bug guts off your grille in your driveway.

If you are hand-washing dishes, you could be using as much as 27 gallons of water each time. Compare this to an Energy-Star dishwasher that uses just three gallons.

Drink Up

Using water also includes the water you consume. When you go to a restaurant, if you have no intention of drinking the water they set out on the table, tell the waiter beforehand. That way, the water can go to someone who will put it to use, instead of watching the ice cubes melt during the meal just to have the whole glass poured down the drain when you leave.

At home, switch out those disposable water bottles for tap water. If the taste in your region is off-putting, use a water purification system or filter, and keep pitchers of it in the fridge. Not only does this keep down the amount of plastic we waste, but it will also conserve the water used to produce the bottle in the first place. Even if you drink the same amount of water from the tap as you did from the bottles, you save three to five times as much water from the bottle production process.

At GCD, we are all about green building and living, and that includes conserving water! We use efficient appliances throughout our homes, but as you can see with the tips above, that is not all it takes to limit the amount of water we waste in summer and all year long! The most important thing is changing your behavior for good. Let moving into a new home be the catalyst for modifying your take on water use. Our energy-efficient building practices and appliances can be the starting line!