Reducing your daily water consumption

April 20, 2015

Since water is a precious resource, here are 23 tips to help you reduce water consumption in your daily life.

In the Kitchen

• Repair leaky faucets.
• Wait until your dishwasher is completely full before running it.
• Don’t rinse your dishes too much before putting them in the dishwasher.
• If you wash your dishes by hand, use a tub instead of running water.
• Turn off the faucet between soaping and rinsing your hands.
• Do you prefer to drink you water very cold? Fill a pitcher and put it in the refrigerator to chill.
• Wash your vegetables with a brush instead of wasting the excess water that runs over them.

In the Bathroom

• Here too, repair leaky faucets.
• If you have a constant pressure controller, the system will warn you if your toilet is leaking.
• Purchase a low-flow toilet and showerhead when you need to replace yours.
• Turn off the faucet while you are washing your hands, shaving or brushing your teeth.
• Take quick showers instead of baths. To save even more water, turn off the water while you are soaping up.
• Don’t use the toilet as a garbage can.
• As with the dishwasher, wait until the washing machine is full before doing a load.

Outdoors

• Water your garden in the evening. This will keep around 50% of the water from evaporating.
• Use rainwater to water your garden.
• Use mulch in your garden, this helps retain moisture.
• Don’t water your driveway! Use a broom when you need to.
• Don’t cut your lawn too short. Longer grass retains moisture and will prevent you from needing to water it.
• Redirect water from the gutters to flowerbeds or the lawn.
• Use a bucket of water instead of a hose to wash your car.
• Cover the pool with a tarp in order to prevent evaporation.
• In order to reduce splashing, don’t fill your pool to more than 20 cm below the edge.

Paper

• Since it takes 26,000 liters of water produce a ton of paper, don’t forget to recycle.