The landscaping company you hired will come in next month to do all the work on your front yard. You’ve been planning this for several months now. The work on the yard had to take a backseat as you prioritized the renovation inside the house, primarily the kitchen.
You’ve caught up with the discussion on climate change and have been reading materials about it—how to save the environment, energy conservation, and water conservation. The latter caught your attention as you felt that this was something that you and your entire family can do without really incurring expenses or investments.
You’re now having second thoughts about including the packaged irrigation system for the yard. But you found out from your readings that there are other ways to help conserve water.
Wasted Water
The average household in America consumes about 300 gallons of water every day. Of these, 70% is estimated to come from indoor use.
The daily supply is estimated at 237 and 84.7 billion gallons of water, which come from surface water and groundwater, respectively. This might seem a lot. But if you account for the wastage, the numbers seem to, well, evaporate. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, some 1.7 trillion gallons of water account for wastage annually because of breaks in pipes or other forms of leaks.
What You Can Do to Conserve Water
Nationally, around 30% of water usage at home occurs outside. So, that includes water you use for your garden, washing your car, or spraying your yard. Here’s how you can conserve water:
- Call the plumber. There might be parts of your house you don’t get to spend a lot of time on, like the basement or the shack at the back. They all have water pipes running through them. If you can’t check for leaks regularly because it’s time-consuming, hire a plumber to have everything checked. The EPA estimates that around 10,000 gallons of water per year account for wastage due to leaks in every single American home.
- Consider installing a rain catchment. This is one option that requires investment. The minimum estimate is around $3,000. But the benefits would be long term. All your water requirements for your garden, cleaning your car, and watering your yard can be coursed through a rain harvesting system.
- Energy-saving washing machine. Water spent on washing laundry constitutes 20% of all indoor water usage. Buy an energy-saving washing machine. You would know this if they have the Energy Star certification sticker. These machines roughly save 40% on water consumption for washing machines compared to regular devices.
- Turn it off. If you’re not using water, turn it off! The estimate is that around 2.7 gallons of water are wasted every minute if you keep the tap running while brushing your teeth. Join the 8 of 10 people who became more responsible by turning off the water faucet while brushing their teeth.
- Take shorter showers. The recommendation is that you reduce your shower time by at least two minutes. The estimate is that this will result in about 30% savings from your regular and longer shower time.
Change your showerhead to a more efficient one or shift to a dual flush type toilet. There are dozens of ways to conserve water and contribute to saving the environment. Acting on this list is a good start.