What Is Water Conservation?

Water conservation is:

Any beneficial reduction in water loss, use or waste.

Improved water management practices that reduce or enhance the beneficial use of water.

Water conservation refers to reducing the usage of water and recycling of waste water for
different purposes such as cleaning, manufacturing, and agricultural irrigation.

Goals

The goals of water conservation efforts include as follows:

Sustainability. To ensure availability for future generations, the withdrawal of fresh water from an
ecosystem should not exceed its natural replacement rate.

Energy conservation. Water pumping, delivery, and wastewater treatment facilities consume a
significant amount of energy.

Minimizing human water use helps to preserve fresh water habitats for local wildlife and
migrating waterfowl, as well as reducing the need to build new dams and other water diversion
infrastructure.

People use water in many different ways, we need it to survive.

Why Save Water?

Water is essential to life on earth. We need water to grow food, keep clean, provide power,
control fire, and last but not least, we need it to stay alive!

When you use water wisely, you help the environment. You help preserve drinking water supplies.
And you ease the burden on wastewater treatment plants—the less water you send down the
drain, the less work these plants have to do to make water clean again.

When you use water wisely, you save energy. You save the energy that your water supplier uses to
treat and move water to you, and the energy your family uses to heat your water.

To provide enough clean fresh water for people, water is cleaned at drinking water treatment
plants before it is used. And after water is used, it is cleaned again at wastewater treatment
plants or by a septic system before being put back into the environment.

Make Sure To...

It's easy and inexpensive to insulate your water pipes with pre-slit foam pipe insulation. You'll get
hot water faster plus avoid wasting water while it heats up.

Obtain showerheads, faucet aerators and toilet flappers to help you

use water efficiently

Install a faucet and reduce the use of water in the bathroom. Faucet aerators reduce output from
2.5 gpm to 1.5 gpm! This is a savings of about 40%!

Use your water meter to check for hidden water leaks. Read the house water meter before and
after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same,
there is a leak.
Fact: Running water while shaving or brushing teeth, wastes more water than what one person
needs for an entire week.

>Turn off the water when you soap your hands and turn it back on once your done.

>Turn off the water after you wet your toothbrush

There is no need to keep the water running while brushing your teeth. Just wet your brush and fill a
glass for mouth rinsing

>Turn off the water while shaving. Fill half a glass with water to rinse your razor. Saves three gallons
each day.

Fact: A family of 4 uses 881 gallons of water per week just to flush their toilet.

 Toilets:

 Use water saver version.

 Better yet use compost toilet.

 Stop using the toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket. Some people flush away tissues and
other bits of trash in the toilet. Using a wastebasket will save all those gallons of water
that otherwise go wastefully down the drain.

 Fill a half gallon container. A plastic bottle filled partially with pebbles, sand, or gravel -
whatever is handy. Better off take a brick.

 Place the container or brick in the tank of the toilet.

 Carefully lower it into the water.

 Replace the lid of the tank.

 Flush away. It has been reported that a sealed half gallon container will save half a gallon
on each flush. Your family of 5 will save 350 gallons (1325 liters) of water every month.

Shower improvements

Fact: A four-minute shower uses approximately 20 to 40 gallons of water.

 Bathing:

 Catch the water while the shower is warming up to water plants

 Turn water off while you are soaping up

Take shorter showers

One way to cut down on water use is to turn off the shower after soaping up, then turn it back on
to rinse.

Replace shower head with water savers that use 2.5 gpm or less.

Do not take baths. The typical bath uses over 50 gallons of water.

Consider collecting excess water for use on house plants.

Fact: 15-20% of all water consumed in the home is used in the laundry, making this room a high
consumer of not only water but also energy and detergents.

 Laundry:

 Use cold water.

 Buy front loader machine.

Only use the washing machine and the dishwasher when you can put on a full load. It wastes both
water and energy to run only a half full machine.

Conserving Water

in the

Kitchen.

 Dishwashing:

 Wash all dishes at once.

 Then rinse all at once.

Misuse Of Water; Facts In Kitchen

Typical dishwasher uses between 8 and 15 gallons per load. High efficiency washer use around 6.

The Dishwasher is about 1.4% of typical water use.

One drip per second from a faucet will waste 2,700 gallons per year.

The faucets in your bathroom and kitchen sinks generally use about 2.5 gallons of water per minute
(gpm).

• If you wash dishes by hand (the best way), don't leave the water running for rinsing. If
your have a double-basin, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you have a
single-basin sink, gather washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a spray device or
a pan full of hot water.

• Keep a bottle of drinking water in the refrigerator. This beats the wasteful habit of running
tap water to cool it for drinking. Saves 200 to 300 gallons a month.

• Don't let the faucet run while you clean vegetables. Rinse them in a filled sink or pan.
Saves 150 to 250 gallons a month.

• Don't defrost frozen foods with running water. Either plan ahead by placing frozen items
in the refrigerator overnight or defrost them in the microwave. Saves 50 to 150 gallons a
month.

Garbage Disposal

 A garbage disposal wastes lots of water.

 Compost instead.
  This will also reduce solid waste in waterlines by 50% or more.

 Dispose of hazardous materials properly! One quart of oil can contaminate 250,000 gallons
of water, effectively eliminating that much water from our water supply.

Use a sponge and bucket of water to clean your car rather than a hose. If you use the hose,
ensure you use a shut off nozzle so the water is not constantly running. This simple practice
can save as much as 150 gallons when washing a car. Better yet, use a waterless car washing
system; there are several brands, such as EcoTouch, which are now on the market.

Use a broom and bucket of water for washing down the patio rather than a steady flow of
water from the hose.

Check faucets and pipes for leaks

A small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste 20 gallons of water per day. Larger leaks
can waste hundreds of gallons.

• Water lawns before 8 a.m. to reduce evaporation and interference from wind — 25 gallons.

• Put a layer of mulch around trees and plants. Chunks of bark, peat moss or gravel slows
down evaporation. Saves 750 to 1,500 gallons a month.

• If you have a pool, use a pool cover to cut down on evaporation. It will also keep your pool
cleaner and reduce the need to add chemicals. Saves 1,000 gallons a month.

• Cut down watering on cool and overcast days and don't water in the rain. Adjust or
deactivate automatic sprinklers. Can save up to 300 gallons each time.

• If having an evaporative air conditioner direct the water drain line to a flower bed, tree
base, or lawn.

• Tell your children not to play with the garden hose. Saves 10 gallons a minute.

• If you allow your children to play in the sprinklers, make sure it's only when you're watering
the yard and for a shorter time.

• When taking your car to a car wash, a good idea for saving water be having you car washed
by one of the many who recycle their wash water.