Saving More Water

One of my faithful readers (hey there are a couple) mentioned that after reading one of my posts, she no longer lets the water run while she washes dishes. Awesome! In the spirit of changing habits and making easy changes, we move to the bathroom.

There are some easy changes that can be made to save water and by extension the energy it takes to heat it. A no-brainer is to reduce the amount of water you use in the shower. Cheap fixes include a low-flow shower head or a flow restrictor. A completely cost-free change that has a huge influence is to simply take shorter showers. I timed my showers this week, and I am in and out in 3 minutes or less. I do have the advantage of having short hair, but a shower shouldn’t take longer than about 5 minutes (unless you’ve been doing some serious muddy work).

When turning on the shower to get warm water, turn it to full blast hot until the water heats up. There is no sense in wasting any cold water as you wait for the warm water to arrive. There are also systems that will circulate hot water through your system so there is no waiting (or wasted water).

When we get to remodeling the bathroom, we will install a dual flush toilet. A different amount of water is used depending on which button you push. Until then, I have placed a water bottle in the tank. This displaces a certain amount of water so that each flush uses less. Just be sure the bottle doesn’t interfere with the float mechanism.

As always, don’t leave water running unnecessarily. Don’t leave it running while you’re brushing your teeth or when you’re shaving. And guys, don’t shave in the shower. That is a tremendous waste of water, and your beard is plenty soft two minutes after you get out of the shower. Women – I have no idea if the water is running when you shave your legs. Hopefully the water isn’t running the whole time.

Share any tips you might have!