Water Conservation

Revised: September 2, 2010

By making just a few small changes to your daily routine at home and at the office, you can save a significant amount of water, save money, and preserve water supplies for future generations. For example: Did you know a leaky faucet can waste more than 3,100 gallons per year at just a slow drip pace?

Look for a high efficiency showerhead. Low flow shower heads are an excellent and easy way to lower your water use.  The less water you use, the less your water heater has to heat up, so it also lowers your energy use. Some high efficiency showerheads yield a savings of 36% on both water and energy. Look for a 1.6 GPM Showerhead.

Taking a 5 minute shower uses 10–25 gallons of water, while a full tub requires about 70 gallons.

The average household spends as much as $500 per year on its water and sewer bill. By making just a few simple changes to use water more efficiently, you could save about $170 per year.

If all U.S. households installed water-efficient appliances, the country would save more than 3 trillion gallons of water and more than $18 billion dollars per year! When we use water more efficiently, we reduce the need for costly water supply infrastructure investments and new wastewater treatment facilities.

The WaterSense label makes it easy for us to recognize products and programs that save water without sacrificing performance or quality. Look for:

Whether remodeling a bathroom, starting construction of a new home, or simply replacing an old, leaky toilet that is wasting money and water, installing a WaterSense-labeled toilet is a high-performance, water-efficient option worth considering. If every American home with older, inefficient toilets replaced them with new WaterSense-labeled toilets, we would save nearly 640 billion gallons of water per year, equal to more than two weeks of flow over Niagara Falls!

By reducing household water use you can not only help reduce the energy required to supply and treat public water supplies but also can help address climate change. In fact: If one out of every 100 American homes retrofitted with water-efficient fixtures, we could save about 100 million kWh of electricity per year—avoiding 80,000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions. That is equivalent to removing nearly 15,000 automobiles from the road for one year! If 1 percent of American homes replaced their older, inefficient toilets with Water Sense labeled models, the country would save more than 38 million kWh of electricity—enough to supply more than 43,000 households electricity for one month.

Detect and repair all leaks in irrigation systems, water the lawn or garden during the coolest part of the day (early morning is best). Do not water on windy days. Check with the local extension service for advice on the amount and frequency of watering needed in your area.

Have your soil tested for nutrient content and add organic matter if needed. Good soil absorbs and retains water better. Minimize turf areas and use native grasses. Use native plants in your landscape—they require less care and water than ornamental varieties.

Use mulch around shrubs and garden plants to reduce evaporation from the soil surface and cut down on weed growth. Remove thatch and aerate turf to encourage movement of water to the root zone. Raise your lawn mower cutting height—longer grass blades help shade each other, cut down on evaporation, and inhibit weed growth. Minimize or eliminate fertilizing which requires additional watering, and promotes new growth which will also need additional watering.