Simple Ways to Save Water This Summer
Summer is the peak season for water usage in America. Whether you’re cooling off, watering your plants, or washing your car, the gallons quickly add up. In fact, the average American family of four uses around four hundred gallons of water a day, but could actually live off about three gallons! By finding ways you can conserve water, you will be able to experience major benefits
Conserve Your Water Use This Summer
We’ve compiled a list of tips to help you and your family conserve water this season. By using these methods to save water, you’ll be able to reduce your water bill, reduce pollution, and contribute to preventing drought in your community.
1. Water in the Early Morning or Evening
Watering your lawn and plants in either the early morning or evening is best. When the sun is high, water quickly evaporates. Put your water to better use by watering at times when moisture is more likely to stay in the soil.
2. Cover Your Pool
If you own a pool, make sure to cover it even in the summertime. Leaving your pool open leads to water evaporation, which results in filling up your pool more often.
3. Layer Your Mulch
Apply a thick layer of bark mulch to your trees, shrubs, and gardens to help retain moisture and limit the need to water your plants as often.
4. Control Your Sprinkler
When using a sprinkler for your lawn, make sure it isn’t spraying your house, driveway, or walkway and is truly watering your lawn. And, when cleaning your driveway and walkways, you can conserve water by using a push broom instead of the hose.
5. Get a Rain Barrel
Purchase a rain barrel to collect water from your gutter’s downspout. You can reuse the water for your lawn and garden.
6. Hold Off on At-Home Car Washes
Don’t wash your car at home. You’ll use almost twice as much water as if you took your vehicle to the car wash.
7. Rinse Fresh Produce in a Bowl
After bringing your fresh produce home from the store, rinse them in a bowl of water instead of running water. This way you can repurpose the water for your plants and garden when you are done.
8. Avoid Washing Every Dish by Hand
Avoid washing your dishes by hand. You could save up to 20 gallons of water by using your dishwasher, just remember to only run the appliance when it is full.
9. Thaw Your Frozen Foods
Thaw your frozen foods on the counter or in the fridge to avoid using running water.
10. Start Composting
Begin composting instead of relying on your garbage disposal. You’ll use less water and turn discarded fruit and veggies into useful gardening soil.
11. Cut Your Shower Time
Shorten your showers, there’s no need to take a long hot shower in the summer. You can save 150 gallons a month by shortening you showers by just 2 minutes.
12. Conserve Water While Brushing Your Teeth
We’ve all heard this one before; turn your faucet off when brushing your teeth. It’s one of the simplest ways to conserve water.
13. Fix Leaky Plumbing
Fix leaky faucets and running toilets. You could silently be wasting up to 100 gallons of water a day with a leaky toilet and dripping faucets waste about 2700 gallons of water per year.
14. Upgrade Your Bathroom Fixtures
Upgrade to a low-flow showerhead and a low-flush toilet to reduce your water usage by 75%. Contact Ranck and we’ll help you fix your leaks and install efficient bathroom fixtures.
15. Do Laundry with Caution
When doing the laundry make sure to only wash a full load and avoid using the permanent-press setting, which uses additional water.
16. Avoid Receiving Water You Won’t Drink
When eating out, let the waiter know if you are unlikely to drink the complimentary glass of water so it won’t end up down the drain after you leave.
17. Buy Recycled Products
Purchase recycled products when you can, they use less water and energy to make. Look for the 100% Recycled label when shopping for disposables.
18. Educate Others
And lastly, work to educate your family on how to conserve water and why it’s important. If each of us does our part, we can make a larger impact when it comes to water conservation. It is beneficial not only for individual reasons like lowering utility and water bills, but finding ways that we can save water is beneficial as a collective as well!
We hope these simple tasks will help you and your family on the path to conserving water, reducing pollution, and lowering your water bill. Should you have additional questions about how your family can conserve water or are in need of a service, give us a call.