I was tracking our water use - How do I save water at home?
Yes nice. i started to think of how much we flushed the toilet each day. when I am here alone or at night it hast of be 8-9- 10 time a day or more. so I thought, just flush every 4-5 times except the the other( you know) I figured that if you did this 3-4 times aday. We get water bill every 3 months. OK times each day, got a 1.6 gal tank. so 8x.16 = 12.8 a dayx384 a monthsx 3 months = 1152 gals in the billing months. thats alot of water. any comments. just thinking!!!! |
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| When you live in the country and have a well and a septic system you learn very quickly to pay a lot of attention to the water use. Not so much for using up the water in the well, but by using too much water at once the septic tank can get flushed out too early, before the sediment has time to settle at the bottom. When that happens the lines in the spetic bed can get clogged and then you back up the outgoing water and waste back up right into the house. Lots of fun.
Now we have signs in our washrooms about what can get flushed and what can't. And they are not subtle, either. I get very agitated at work when folks run the water so they get cold water. As if the water is coming from a refrigerator under the ground! And leaky faucets! Argghhh!!! |
| Well, 1152 gallons might sound like a lot of water, but it really isn't.
A cubic foot of water is 7.5 gallons. My town charges about about $23 for 1000 cubic feet, or about 7500 gallons. So for me, saving 1152 gallons is about $3.54, less than $15 a year for quite a bit of work. Though sometimes, every little bit helps. Your charges might be substantially higher than mine. we use about 1,000 cubic feet totla per quarter if we don't water our plantings. We usually water our giant tree a few days a year, if it gets dry; that tree is far too old and important to us to risk it's health to save a few dollars. I could look at it purely financially -- if it were to die, it would certainly cost thousands of dollars to have it taken down. In the quarter when we water, we might use as much as 2,000 cubic feet. It's would be much better to run your clothes washer and dish washer only when completely full. Use only as much water level as needed in the clothes washer if not completely full. Use a dish washer instead of hand washing. Scrape your plates, use any paper napkins used during dinner to remove as much as possible from the plates, don't rinse them if you're going to be turning on the dishwasher. Install low-flo shower heads in the shower, preferably ones with shutoffs in the head, and turn it off when lathering, and take short showers. Don't waste water outside. Certainly fix any leaking fixtures.. they leak A LOT of water over the course of a day. Sometimes you don't know that a fixture like a toilet is leaking. Put a couple of drops of food coloring in each tank and see if any of it migrates into the bowl over the course of 15 minutes or an hour. Make sure all fixtures are off, and write down the numbers on your water meter, then leave the house for the day... check that the numbers are the same when you return. If not, there's a leak somewhere! Track it down! The last measure is restricting flushing. I remember a friend of mine in San Francisco told me their motto during a bad drought year, perhaps 15 or 20 years ago: Quote: If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.
Any other ways to save water around the house? |
Is your water bill very high, Deana, or were you just pondering? I always turn off the water while I brush my teeth and we definitely never ever water our lawn so that must save us something.  |
| I turn the water off too when I brush my teeth...5 min showers...and if I HAD a dishwasher, Id only run it completely full. I think you should flush with every bathroom visit, except for night time... |
| Well as you know I have to watch every penny. The water bill has always been around $34.00 for the past 4 yrs. This last bill was $65.00. I can not find a reason for it. I do not like showers. Never did. So its not that I am taking any more baths than I have before. The only thing is I do potty alot all day. Thought that might be it. I am just looking for a reason. Maybe we miss read the meter when we called it in. |
| I agree - if it is that much higher I'd ask to have someone come out and read it again. |
| You might have a leak somewhere that you haven't noticed?
Our water bill just came in today, it was 217 for 3 months, about average. We have 6 people in the house, so I don't really think there is a lot of saving going on between showers, baths, toilet use, dishes and laundry. LOL I never water my lawn, ever... Everyone else is supposed to keep their showers to five minutes. I have quick showers in the morning, but sometimes in the evenings I love a long, hot bath, so I probably use a lot there too. It's the only room of the house though where I can lock the door and keep away from everyone. LOL |
| The leak could be before it enters your house. Turn off the water where it enters the house.......find the shutoff. Go read the meter. Then wait a bit (several hours if possible) and reread the meter. There should be no change. If there's a change, there's a leak between the meter and your house. That is one expensive repair.
Remember water bills could also include a sewer charge and any number of extra taxes and surcharges the municipality has passed over the years. |
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