12 Easy Ways to Lower Water Use in Your Bathroom
Regardless of where you call home, clean drinking water is a precious resource. However, several states, including California, are undergoing a severe water shortage making water conservation even more critical.
We recommend using a step-by-step approach to lowering water usage around the house. By looking at each area one at a time, we can address the water wastes in that area, focus on changing habits over the course of 2-3 weeks, and then move on to the next area of the home.
For the average American household, the bathroom is the largest water consumer inside the home. According to the EPA, the toiled alone can consume 27% of total usage alone! For our 3rd installment on lowering water use throughout the home, we found the 12 easy ways to lower water consumption in your bathroom.
12 Easy Ways to Lower Water Use in Your Bathroom
- Perhaps the easiest way to save up to 150 gallons a month is by simply shortening your shower by a minute or two.
- If your family can keep showers under 5 minutes, you can actually save up to 1,000 gallons a month.
- If your shower head can fill a one gallon bucket in less than 20 seconds, replace it with a WaterSense® labeled model.
- Prefer baths? Consider that a typical bathtub requires up to 70 gallons of water to fill.
- Still prefer baths? Simply plug the bathtub before turning on the water, you can always adjust the temperature as the tub fills.
- Toilet leaks can be hard to identify. At least once a year put food coloring into your tank, if it seeps into the bowl without flushing - there’s a leak!
- Commonly toilet flappers don’t close properly after they get older, but only cost a handful of dollars to replace.
- If your toilet was installed before 1992 or doesn’t carry a WaterSense® label, consider replacing it.
- Consider a dual flush toilet, with a half flush for liquid waste and a full flush for solid waste.
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or shaving. Most faucets can use 4 gallons of water per minute. If everyone in your family turns it off for one minute a day, that’s 200 gallons a week!
- Drop tissues in the trash instead of flushing them every time.
- 1 drip of water a second from a faucet, shower head, or toilet can leak as much as 5 gallons of water per day. Check them all for leaks!