Conserving Water

There are lots of small changes you can make to conserve water. Here are some tips at 100 Ways to Conserve.

The bathroom has lots of opportunities to save. If you have an older water tank with your toilet, place a plastic bottle filled with rocks in the tank. It will limit the amount of water stored and reduce water used for each flush.

Note: Don't use a brick, which some people recommend, it can disintegrate.

If you think your water is slowly running from the tank, either get the colored tablets from your water department for testing or put a few drops of food coloring in the tank. If it leaches into the water in the bowl, you may need to change out the flapper.

Saving Water

In the heat of the summer here in Texas, water is in scarce supply. In addition to saving money, I try to be conservative with water because our lakes get quite depleted. Here are a few tips.

• Keep a jug by the kitchen sink (rinsed milk jug will do) and when you run water waiting for it to get hot, run it into the jug instead of down the sink. You can use it to water plants or flush the toilet.
• Put a small bucket in the corner of the shower. Some of the water will make it into the bucket instead of going down the drain. Use to flush the toilet.
• If you have someone in your family who takes long showers, get a timer and limit time spent in there.
• Bath water can get scooped up to water the flowers/garden. Don't fill the bath, use less water.
• Get a rain barrel (these can be expensive though and may not be worth the cost and watch out for mosquitoes hatching)
• Check for leaks. I had an outside faucet that was leaking, but didn't want to pay an exorbitant plumber rate so bought an attachment with a shut off valve. It works great.
• To check if a toilet tank is leaking, put a little food coloring in there (or you can get colored tablets from your water dept.). You will be able to see if any colored water is trickling into the bowl.
• Purchase water saving shower heads.
• Don't let the water run after you wet your toothbrush. Turn it off until you're ready to rinse.
• Minimize use of garbage disposal. I don't use mine much as I put vegetable scraps in the compost. If you do use the garbage disposal, instead of running water from the tap, use the jug of water that you've been collecting when waiting for hot water to come through.
• Water your lawn/garden in the morning - it won't evaporate as quickly as during the heat of the day.