Conservation Measures for Your Bathroom

About 75% of the water in the home is used in the bathroom. Consider these conservation tips.

• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth. There's no need to keep water pouring down the drain. Wet your toothbrush and fill a glass for mouth rinsing.
• Rinse your razor in the sink. Fill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of water. This will rinse your blade as well as running water.
• A bathtub filled half full holds about 50 gallons of water. Consider showering instead.
• Shampoo your hair in the shower. It takes a little more water than for the bath, but much less than a separate shampoo will use.
• Check faucets and pipes for leaks. Standard faucets have rubber or plastic washers that wear out over time and are available from any hardware store. Some newer faucets use O-rings instead of washers.
• Limit showers to five minutes.
• Install water-saving low-flow showerheads. Turn off the water while soaping up or shampooing.
• Your toilet could be leaking without you knowing it. Try this: Add a few drops of food coloring to the water in the tank, but do not flush (about 15 minutes). Watch to see if the coloring appears in the bowl within a few minutes. If it does, the fixture needs adjustment or repair.
• Listen to gurgling sounds coming from your toilet. These noises indicate the flush valve needs to be adjusted to stop wasting water.
• Use a water stop/dam to reduce the amount of water used in a flush. Do not use bricks because they will eventually crumble and could damage the working mechanism of the toilet.
• Install faucet aerators to cut water consumption.
• Never use the toilet to dispose of cleansing tissues, cigarette butts or other trash. This can waste a great deal of water and also places an unnecessary load on the sewage treatment process.
• Don't use hot water when cold will do. Save water and energy by washing hands with soap and cold water instead of turning on the hot water and waiting for it to run hot.