Do you know how to decrease your water waste? Water is a precious commodity. It’s something that many of us take for granted until we find ourselves in the middle of a water crisis. Water waste is becoming an increasingly big problem all over the world. One way to help address this issue is by learning how to avoid water waste at home. In this blog post, we will discuss some common ways that people waste water and provide tips on how you can stop wasting water!
Water waste
We all know that we should save water, but not everyone knows why. Each drop counts, so it does make a difference if you leave your water running when you brush your teeth or wash your hair. But, first, let’s look at why it is so important to be aware of your water habits.
Most of the world is covered by water. To be more precise, 71 percent of the planet is covered by water. But more than 96 percent is saltwater. As a result, less than 1 percent of the water on the earth’s surface is drinkable.
Many people think that water waste doesn’t impact them because they live in developing countries, where it is easy to access plenty of water. Every drop that comes through your sink or shower has to go through a water treatment process of extraction, transportation, and purification that requires a lot of energy. Water waste impacts your carbon footprint because it has to burn fossil fuels to go through this process.
Did you know that 40 percent of the world’s food production relies on water availability? This could mean that wasting water may lead to starvation for many people. And, of course, wasting water means wasting money. And who doesn’t want to save more money?
What can you do to save water?
According to epa.gov, the average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day, with 70 percent indoors. That is roughly 1135 liters!
Water is one of the human’s basic needs. But most people overuse it, resulting in large amounts of water waste, not to mention a more extensive water bill.
Let’s look at how you can keep track of your water usage at home and decrease your water waste.
Turn off your taps
First and foremost, turn off your taps while you are doing tasks. For example, are you brushing your teeth? Please turn it off while you are brushing them!
If you remember to turn off the taps in the house, you can save up to 6 liters of water per minute! Unfortunately, many faucets leak too much water every year. Leaky pipes and faucets cause nearly 10.000 gallons of water to be wasted every year. Many leaks are easily fixable, so check your faucet today!
Take shorter showers
Secondly, your showers also play a massive role in how much water you waste. Long showers waste a lot of water. The average person uses up to 17 liters of water per minute when they shower. What you can do is be mindful of the duration of your showers. It gYou can do that by investing in a low-flow showerhead and turning off the water while you are doing shower tasks like washing your hair, shaving, and scrubbing.
Don’t wash your clothes as often
Next on our list of tips on how to decrease water waste is your washing habits. Wasting household water affects the global water cycle. Washing a full load of dirty laundry uses less water and energy than two half-loads. Save up on energy and water by washing your dirty clothes less often. It might also be good to ensure that your laundry machine is working correctly. When you wash, try to use a setting that requires less water. Remember to control if the water pipes are working as they should.
Reduce your food waste
It takes a lot of water to produce the food you have at home. According to the World Resources Institute, 45 trillion gallons of water are wasted as part of the 1.3 billion tons of food wasted each year.
Plan your meals and keep track of what foods you have in your fridge or cabinet, and plan your meal plan accordingly. Wasting less food means wasting less water. Moreover, it also means saving more money!
Seasonal eating
We always encourage people to buy locally. An extension of that is to stick to seasonal eating. If you purchase locally produced food according to the season, you save money, energy, and water.
Non-local food requires harvesting, packaging, and transportation. When you buy farm-to-table, you can delete the middle man. You can also cut down on meat and dairy, as they require enormous amounts of water in production. All of this is not to mention that food tastes better when it is in season!
Use rainwater
If you want to implement something easy in order to find out how to decrease your water waste, try to catch some rainwater! Installing water butts can save up to 5.000 liters of water a year.
If you have plants at home, they thrive better on rainwater than on regular tap water. Of course, you can collect the rainwater yourself, but you can also put your plants out in the rain when it is raining. If you commit to doing this, you will notice a huge difference!
So put that bucket outside when it’s raining!
Be mindful of your flushing habits
Toilet flushing accounts for a third of all household water waste. However, there are many things you can do to reduce yours!
Make sure that your toilet doesn’t leak. When it is time to buy a new toilet, get one with a low-flush or a dual-flow option. Many toilets on the market today are much more water conservation-friendly. Under U.S Federal law, newer toilets must not use more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush. A high-efficiency toilet goes beyond the standard and saves around 20 percent more than other toilets.
Throw out cotton, tissues, sanitary pads, and more in the garbage can and not in the toilet.
Dishwashing
Did you know that you use less water when using a dishwashing machine? Some might think they are conserving their water supply by washing dishes in the sink. But you are using earth’s water resources better when using a dishwashing machine. Even if you use a bucket when you are hand-washing your dishes!
If you use a dishwasher, avoid rinsing the plates before putting them in the machine, and make sure that you fill it up till it is full before starting the machine. To conserve water, make sure that you use a program that uses less water.
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Thank you for reading!
We hope you have learned something about how yo decrease your water waste. We’ve seen that water waste is a major problem, both for our environment and our wallets. But it doesn’t have to be this way! Although we can’t tell you how to stop water waste, there are many ways we can reduce the amount of water we use at home without making any significant changes or sacrifices. Instead, by following some simple tips and tricks, we can all do our part in conserving this precious resource. So let’s get started – save water and money by using less of it! What tips do you have to share about reducing water waste at home?
