Water Conservation Tips

Verify that your home is leak free. Read your water meter before and after a two hour period when no water is being used. If the meter reading changes, you have a leak somewhere in your home. Find it and fix it.
Repair dripping faucets. A faucet dripping at one drop per second will waste 2700 gallons per year.
Is your toilet leaking? To determine if it is, add a few drops of food coloring to the toilet tank and wait 30 minutes. Check to see if the color shows up in the toilet bowl. It it does, your toilet tank is leaking. Leaking toilets will waste 200 gallons of more of water per day.
Don’t let water run needlessly when you are washing dishes, shaving or brushing your teeth.
Take shorter showers. Keeping your shower to less than 5 minutes can save up to 1000 gallons per month.
Run your dishwasher and washing machine only when completely full.
Install low flow faucets, shower heads and toilets.
Use the garbage disposal minimally and compost instead. Garbage disposals use a lot of water to work properly.
Do not use running water to thaw meats or other frozen foods. Defrost frozen foods overnight in the refrigerator or use the defrost setting on your microwave.
Store drinking water in the refrigerator rather than letting the tap run every time you want a cool glass of water.

Water lawns before 8 am and after 8 pm. Don’t water during the hottest time of the day or when it’s windy. You will lost most of the water you are applying to evaporation. Only water your lawn every three to five days. To determine if your lawn needs watering, simply walk across your lawn and if you leave foot prints, it’s time to water. Don’t over water your lawn. To determine how much water you are applying, place a pan on your lawn when you are watering to measure how much is being applied. Lawns only need one inch of water per week.
When washing your car, use a shut off nozzle on your garden hose to control your water flow. A garden hose running continuously will use 15 gallons per minute. Wash your car on your lawn – this way you will also be watering your lawn the same time you are washing your car.
Use mulch to retain moisture around your landscape plants. Mulch helps control the weeds that complete with your plants for water. Use a broom or blower instead of a hose to clean leaves and other debris from your driveway and sidewalk.
Don’t cut your grass too short. Raise the lawn mover blade to at least 3 inches or higher. Longer grass encourages grass roots to grow deeper, shades the root system and holds soil moisture.
You can use your Internet to find more water conservation tips by searching for “water conservation tips for the home.”