As each year comes to a close, we all make some pretty ambitious promises to ourselves in the form of New Year’s Resolutions. But as the days and weeks pass, our focus slides from those ideals to the more routine matters at hand. However, it is vital to keep your new goals in mind, especially if you include conserving water to help the environment. Following just a few simple tips, you can save some water to help the planet in addition to some money to help your monthly budget.
Stop Washing Dishes
It would be great never to wash another dish, but it is not really practical. However, you can vow never to wash another dish by hand. Instead, use the dishwasher to handle this time-consuming and sometimes tedious task. The average dishwasher uses 5 gallons of water per cleaning cycle. However, when you hand wash the same number of dishes, you will use around 27 gallons. Just be sure that you only run a cleaning cycle when the dishwasher is fully loaded to maximize your savings.
Stop Washing The Car Too
The average drive-through car wash uses about 35 gallons of water per vehicle. However, the more eco-friendly have that number down to less than 20. And some even recycle the water after it is filtered. Still, 20 gallons of water seems like a substantial amount until you think about washing your car at home. Most people spend about 30 minutes on this task. But to be honest, the hose is only running for about 10 minutes. What you are not considering is that the hose is doling out about 10 gallons of water per minute. So in 10 minutes, you are using about 100 gallons of water. So head to a carwash to save a significant amount of water this year.
Go Low Flow
Any showerhead installed before 1992 uses 3.5 or more gallons of water per minute. After that time, showerheads were restricted to a maximum of 2.5 gallons per minute. So if you have an older showerhead, you can save about one-third of the water used for showering just by installing a new and very affordable showerhead. Over a year, that single change in your home could save an average of 3,000 gallons of water per person showing in your household.
Locate And Repair Leaks
Tiny drips add up the same way that nickels and dimes add up to dollars. Most people would never throw away money, but they are ok with watching a dripping faucet. In essence, that water running down the drain is the same as throwing away all your loose change at the end of the day or week. So invest a few minutes in looking for leaking fixtures, hoses, or pipes around your home. If you are not inclined to make the repairs yourself, call (706) 303-0987 to schedule an appointment with the licensed plumbers at Drain Surgeon. Taking advantage of just a few of these ideas will help keep your resolution, save the planet, and a little cash.
