Water lines are vital to many aspects of our daily life, such as drinking water, recreation, and agriculture. When you conserve water, you can help protect your local environment and ecosystems. Check out these simple tips and tricks to help you cut back on water use yearly and to help you save money.
At Suburban Plumbing Experts, we work with water, a LOT. We are plumbers and we know the importance of having clean water every single day. Thankfully, conserving water is easier than you may think. Small changes in your water use habits can go a long way toward helping the environment, and again, saving you money! Here are a few easy tips to get started.
Stop Buying Bottled Water
Start by installing a water filter on your kitchen sink tap. Even though this doesn’t necessarily cut down on the amount of water you use, it does reduce the need for buying bottled water. Buying bottled water can get expensive and it also harms the environment by increasing the amount of plastic that needs to be manufactured and disposed of. Another option similar to this is buying a water filter pitcher.
Shipping bottled water from the manufacturer to the stores in which you buy and then transporting it to your home also increases the number of emissions into the atmosphere which can pollute the water.
Spend Less Time at the Sink
This means shorter showers or simply turning off the faucet while brushing your teeth. Reducing the amount of time your tap water runs obviously cuts down on waste as well. When doing dishes after dinner, try washing your dishes in a sink full of already soapy water and then rinsing all at once, rather than keeping the tap running throughout dish washing. These easy steps can really help you conserve water, save money, and are easy enough to work into your daily routine.
Changing Your Faucet Tap
One of the easiest changes you can make to conserve water in your home is to install a low-flow faucet and/or shower head. Most low flow faucets and shower heads these days are actually a type of aerator made to deliver a combination of water and air through a stream. This simple change not only cuts down on the amount of water waste in your home, but it brings the water bill price down and who doesn’t love to save money these days?
Fill Your Washing Appliances Before Using
Doing a small load of wash or a quick rinse in the dishwasher may seem insignificant, but running these types of appliances before they are filled to capacity is a huge waste of water. Waiting until you have enough items to fill your appliances is a simple and useful habit you can do every time rather than just washing a few items here and there.
Collect Rainwater for Landscaping
This may seem a bit much, but we all know that watering your lawn is one of the most common ways to waste water. If you must water your plant and flower garden, or even use a sprinkler on your lawn, setting up a rainwater collection device to catch rainwater is an environmentally friendly option. If you go this route, it is important to monitor the risk for mosquito breeding in this rainwater collection.
You can find rain barrels that are designed specifically to resist mosquitoes and provide you with a safe and sustainable solution to watering your flowers and plants in your garden.
Clean water is of the utmost importance to the health of ourselves and the environment. That’s why it’s so important to be proactive in protecting clean water for the future.