6 Ways To Use Less Water In The Bathroom

There’s really no reason to keep the water running while brushing your teeth. Simply wet your toothbrush and fill a glass for rinsing. If everyone in your house did this, think how much water could be saved every day.

Every unneeded minute in the shower can use 5-10 gallons - that adds up to a lot of wasted water. One way to cut down on water use is to turn off the shower after soaping up or shaving, then turn it back on to rinse. You can also install low-flow, water saving shower heads that use about ½ as much as a normal one. You can easily check for a leak in your toilet.

You can easily check for a leak in your toilet by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank. If, without flushing, the color begins to appear in the bowl within 30 minutes, you have a leak that should be repaired. Call a professional plumber if you need help with repairing the leak.

For new installations, consider buying low-flush toilets, which only use 1-2 gallons per flush instead of the typical 3-5 gallons. If you have an older toilet, you can trick it into being a low-flush toilet by using something to displace water in your tank like a brick or a ½ gallon plastic container (remove any plastic or paper labels). Fill it with some sand, gravel, pebbles - whatever you have. Then add water and place it in the toilet tank away from any working parts. Make sure that it’s weighted enough and doesn’t float up so that it doesn’t move around and interfere with toilet function.

A small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste up to 20 gallons of water per day and larger leaks can waste hundreds of gallons! Fixing these leaks can save more water & money than you realize. If you don’t feel comfortable doing this yourself, call a plumbing professional for help. *(NOTE - make sure you shut the water off before replacing a worn washer unless you want a spontaneous shower or water feature to erupt)