2. What Is Water Conservation? Water conservation refers to reducing the usage of water and recycling of waste water for different purposes such as cleaning, manufacturing, and agricultural irrigation. 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. 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.
3. People use water in many different ways, we need it to survive. 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! Why Save Water? 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.
4. 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. 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. Make Sure To... faucets faucet aerators Obtain showerheads, faucet aerators and toilet flappers to help youuse 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%!
6. 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 toothbrushThere 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.
10. 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.
11. 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. Brick in the tank 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.
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13. Catch the water while the shower is warming up to water plants
14. Turn water off while you are soaping upTake 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. showerhead
17. 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.
22. 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.
23. 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.
28. 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.
29. 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.
30. 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.
31. If having an evaporative air conditioner direct the water drain line to a flower bed, tree base, or lawn.