In the United States, the average American family of four uses approximately 400 gallons of water per day–roughly the equivalent of five standard-size bathtubs. This can spike even higher during warm months, when landscape irrigation drives up residential water usage. The good news is that small changes in daily habits and a few smart upgrades can significantly reduce water waste, lower utility bills, and help protect this critical resource.
How can people conserve water indoors?
There are three main actions you can take to decrease water usage throughout the house:
- Install or retrofit existing older plumbing devices with modern, water-efficient devices.
- Maintain appliances, faucets, and toilets, checking for leaks frequently and repairing promptly as needed.
- Adopt water saving habits.
Adhering to these strategies is not only effective for overall water conservation, but will save you money on utility bills.
Identifying water-efficient devices
Look for the WaterSense certification logo on plumbing fixtures to ensure water efficiency. WaterSense-certified products use at least 20% less water than standard models–without sacrificing performance. Like Energy Star appliances, rebates are available with the installation of WaterSense products, making them both an eco-friendly and cost-effective choice.
WaterSense
WaterSense is a program created by the EPA to certify water-efficient plumbing devices, including faucets, showerheads, and sprinklers. These products can save hundreds of gallons of water each year. Seek out this certification when shopping for plumbing fixtures.
How to conserve water in the bathroom
Half of a home’s total water use happens in the bathroom, with toilets being the biggest water consumers, followed by showers and sink faucets. Modifying habits and switching to WaterSense-certified toilets, faucets, and showerheads can significantly reduce water waste, lower utility bills, and help conserve this precious resource.
Go Green: Water-saving faucets
Install WaterSense-labeled faucets or retrofit existing faucets with WaterSense aerators. These water-efficient faucets use a maximum of 1.5 gallons per minute and can reduce a sink’s water flow by 30% or more from the standard flow of 2.2 gallons per minute.
In addition:
- Fix leaky faucets.
- Clean scale buildup from the aerator, which can cause performance issues.
- Turn off the water while brushing teeth or shaving. I’ve also started turning it off while I’m lathering my face as I wash it at night.
Go Green: Water-saving shower heads
Install WaterSense-labeled showerheads, which use no more than 2 gallons of water per minute– about half the amount of water used by conventional models. This certification also ensures these products meet additional performance requirements, including adequate spray pressure and coverage, so don’t worry about not being able to adequately rinse shampoo from your hair. Shop for these water-saving showerheads at any plumbing or hardware store, such as Home Depot.
Changing a showerhead might seem complicated, but it is actually very simple. There’s no need to pay a plumber; I’ve changed several on my own.
Make sure you replace the O-ring as necessary and fix leaky showerheads in a timely manner. Repair or replace leaky bathtub faucets as well.
Go Green: Adopt water-conserving shower habits
- The most obvious way to decrease water usage is to take shorter showers, which can be tough for someone like me who loves a long, hot shower. But a 15-minute shower under an old showerhead can use 90-120 gallons of water. See if you can shower in five minutes by setting a timer or listening to a five minute song. In addition, consider turning off the water while you lather up, shampoo your hair, or shave–some showerheads have a quick shut-off lever that allows you to turn the water on and off without adjusting the water temperature.
- Put a bucket in the shower to collect water while you’re waiting for it to warm up, and use the water for watering plants, flushing the toilet, or cleaning. Or just jump right in–apparently there are many health benefits to taking cold showers. Some of my siblings swear by them, but it’s not for me–brrr.
- Take fewer baths, as they use about twice as much water as showering.
Go even greener in the shower with eco-friendly, non-toxic soaps and shampoos.
Go Green: Water-saving toilets
Toilets are the biggest consumers of water in the home, more than any other indoor fixture. This is especially true of older model toilets, which use 3.5 gallons of water per flush (gpf); some even use up to 7 gpf. Current federal standards allow for 1.6 gpf.
The best way to decrease water usage is to replace your toilet with a low-flow model bearing a WaterSense label, indicating it meets EPA criteria. These models can use up to 60% less water than an old toilet. Check for rebates in your area for installing a water-efficient toilet.
If you’re not in the market for a new toilet, there are still several things you can do to decrease its water usage.
Upgrade older toilets with a dual-flush conversion kit to save water without replacing the entire unit. These kits allow users to choose between a full flush for solid waste (using the toilet’s original gallons per flush) and a reduced flush for liquid waste, which requires significantly less water. Since liquid waste makes up the majority of flushes, this simple retrofit can lead to substantial water savings over time.
You can also install an adjustable flapper that can be modified to control how much water flows into the toilet when flushed, or a fill cycle diverter, which diverts some of the water from filling the bowl to the tank instead.
You may have heard about placing a brick in the toilet tank, which displaces water and therefore decreases the amount used with each flush. This is the right idea, but a brick can break down over time and clog the drain. Instead, try a product specific for this purpose, like these toilet tank bags, which are filled with water and mounted inside the tank.
If you’re up for it, you can go with the “if it’s yellow, let it mellow” thing to save some flushes. Maybe my kids have actually just been eco-conscious all along….?
Go Green: Install a bidet
Install a bidet to decrease the amount of toilet paper used. I’ve got a bidet attachment made by Bio Bidet, which I purchased from Costco. It was easy to install and is a game changer, complete with warm water. It has a dryer, but I don’t find it to be effective, so I purchased reusable cloth toilet paper to dry with, but really any cloth will do. If you’ve ever questioned a bidet’s water usage, you can rest easy knowing that they only use 1/8th of a gallon per use. A single roll of toilet paper takes 37 gallons of water to create! Learn what to look for when choosing eco-friendly toilet paper.
Go Green: Check for leaks
No matter what type of toilet you have, do periodic checks to ensure it is functioning properly.
Toilet leaks can waste up to 180 gallons of water per week. Test for leaks about every 6 months by putting a few drops of food coloring into the tank and wait for about 20 minutes. Check to see if color appears in the bowl (without flushing), which would indicate a leak.
The most common culprit is a leaky flapper/flush valve and can be resolved by scrubbing off mineral deposits or flapper replacement. Other causes include a faulty fill valve or issues leading to water in the tank running into the overflow tube.
Saving water in the kitchen
Go Green: Energy-efficient dishwasher
Did you know that handwashing dishes uses more water than running a dishwasher? Handwashing can use up to 27 gallons of water per load versus as little as 3 gallons with an Energy Star-rated dishwasher. And Energy Star dishwashers average 12% less energy and 30% less water than standard models.
Click here to learn more about energy-efficient dishwashers and other appliances.
Go Green: Water-saving dishwashing tips
There aren’t WaterSense standards for kitchen faucets because they perform high-flow tasks such as filling pots and containers, as well as rinsing dishes and food. But you can look for models with lower flow ratings; many new kitchen faucets have a flow rate between 1.5 and 1.8 gpm. Some have a feature that allows you to switch between a traditional faucet flow and a spray stream to assist with rinsing.
Most people are in the habit of pre-rinsing their dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, myself included. However, numerous sources say this is an unnecessary step that uses a lot of water. Modern dishwashers are efficient at cleaning even heavily soiled dishes, so simply scrape off loose food and allow the dishwasher to do the rest.
However, I do think this is more effective if the dishwasher is run daily; otherwise, I find some food gets too crusted on and not fully removed, so a light rinse may be necessary.
In addition:
- Only run the dishwasher for full loads to optimize water use. But be sure not to overload or block moving parts, which reduces efficiency.
- Utilize your sink drain stopper when washing dishes, rather than running the water nonstop.
- Compost your food and use your disposal as little as possible.
In addition to conserving water, skip harmful chemicals and choose eco-friendly and non-toxic dishwasher detergent, as well as clean dish soaps and sustainable dishwashing tools.
More ways to conserve water in the kitchen
- Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of letting the faucet run until the water is cold. And refrain from running the water until hot for boiling; covering a pot of water with a lid will help it to boil faster.
- Thaw food in the refrigerator overnight rather than with hot water. I am terrible at planning ahead, so more often than not, I end up using the microwave, which works but does use extra energy. When the weather is warm, I’ve found that putting things out in the sun speeds up the thawing process surprisingly well—definitely a handy trick in a pinch!
- Fill a bowl with water to rinse produce instead of letting the water run. This is also a great practice to help remove pesticides.
- Boiling potatoes or cooking pasta? Use leftover cooking water to give a drink to potted or garden plants.
- Water plants or top off a bird bath with residual water left in bottles.
Laundry water conservation
Go Green: Energy-efficient washing machine
An Energy Star washing machine uses 20% less energy and about 30% less water than regular washers.
Learn more about Energy Star washing machines and other energy-efficient appliances here.
To optimize water and energy use, make sure to wash only full loads of laundry or use the appropriate water level or load size selection on the washing machine.
Make your laundry room even greener with plastic-free, non-toxic laundry detergent.
Go Green: Wash with cold water
Heating water accounts for around 90% of the energy used by a washing machine. The best practice is to wash with cold water. I resisted this until recently because I didn’t think cold water would clean clothes as well. But I’ve been doing this for months now and I assure you that it works just as well.
Using cold water not only saves you money, but it substantially decreases decreases carbon emissions: if you washed 4 out of 5 loads of laundry in cold water for one year, the CO2 emissions would drop to 864 pounds of CO2 emissions, which is equivalent to planting 0.37 acres of trees.
Cold water helps also prevent shrinkage and retain colors in your clothes and is better for delicate fabrics.
Click here to learn more from the American Cleaning Institute.
Keep conserving and explore tips to save water in your landscape.