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How to Save Water at Home

 
Mary Smith
By Mary Smith. August 3, 2022
How to Save Water at Home

Water is a vital liquid, indispensable for life itself and for maintaining health. However, water is also a scarce resource, and in many places around the world it is not easy to have. More than 2,000 million people live in countries with water scarcity, and climate change means the outlook for water resources is not optimistic. Improving water management and making the most of every drop is also in your hands.

The following oneHOWTO article explains how you can save water at home by changing a few small habits.

You may also be interested in: 10 Ways To Reuse Water At Home

Contents

  1. Close the faucet when is not being used
  2. Take a shower instead of bath
  3. Make the most of your toilet water
  4. Use appliances responsibly
  5. Try to reuse water
  6. Use devices to control and monitor water consumption
  7. Save water in the garden and in the swimming pool
  8. Fix water leaks

Close the faucet when is not being used

Have you ever thought about how often you leave the faucet open while doing other things? Without realizing it, we can waste a significant number of liters per month with this simple daily gesture. A running faucet wastes more than five liters of water per minute. So turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth, shave or wash your face. Use cold water when you do not need hot.

How to Save Water at Home - Close the faucet when is not being used

Take a shower instead of bath

Take a shower instead of a bath. A five-minute shower uses about 40 liters of water. That's about half the volume of a normal bath. Do not forget to turn off the faucet while soaping up or applying a hair product.

Taking one minute less shower each day can save up to 5% on your energy bill per person per year. You can save even more water when showering by showering sparingly, using ecological shower heads or replacing the shower head with a water-saving head.

How to Save Water at Home - Take a shower instead of bath

Make the most of your toilet water

Flushing the toilet is another of the daily gestures we should consider if we want to save water at home. Only the toilet paper we use should end up in the toilet. All other hygiene items: Wipes, compresses, ear swabs, cigar butts and so on belong in the trash can. Throwing them in the cistern would not only waste water (9 liters per flush), but can also cause serious harm to the environment, as they are not degradable.

You might also consider installing a dual-flush cistern into which you can add more or less water, or reduce the capacity by placing a bottle of water in the cistern.

Use appliances responsibly

The washing machine and dishwasher are the appliances that use a lot of water, and much of the savings you can make depend on their responsible use.

Do not rinse the dishes before you put them in the dishwasher. If you have this habit, do not do it anymore. Nowadays, all electric appliances can clean dishes well without the need for this manual pre-rinse.

Make full use of the washing machine, and if you can no longer use the dryer, so much the better, because you will save energy and water. Water consumption in the laundry usually accounts for 20% of our total household consumption. By the way, whenever you can, you should not use the pre-wash program.

Try to buy appliances that are more energy efficient. They may be more expensive at first, but they use less energy and water, so the cost will balance out in the long run.

How to Save Water at Home - Use appliances responsibly

Try to reuse water

Try to reuse water that is not polluted for other purposes, for example, you can use the water from your children's bath to mop the floor. Collect the water that runs off while you are waiting for it to get hot and reuse it (for watering plants, cleaning the floor, etc.).

Continue reading this other post if you want to learn more ways to reuse water at home.

Use devices to control and monitor water consumption

Sometimes we use more water than necessary because we get an excessive flow when we open the faucet, but that is something we can control. In the event that the water pressure in your house is very high, and some water is wasted, there may be a problem with your installation.

There are also devices that help control water discharge by reducing the flow rate. The reducers are devices that can be installed in the faucets or shower to prevent the flow rate from exceeding the specified limit. The recommended flow rate for faucets is 8 liters per minute, and for showers is 10 liters/minute. Aerators are devices that allow air to be introduced into the water jet, thus achieving a saving of 40 or 50%.

How to Save Water at Home - Use devices to control and monitor water consumption

Save water in the garden and in the swimming pool

If you have a house with a garden and a swimming pool, there are many measures you can take to conserve water other than using the rain.

Try planting native plants that require less frequent watering. Also, use efficient systems, such as drip irrigation. When temperatures are high, it is ideal to water at dawn or dusk to make the most of the water and avoid rapid evaporation. If you water during the day, you can lose up to 30% through evaporation.

If you have a swimming pool, we recommend that you treat the water properly and conserve water so that you do not have to empty the pool regularly. Another important aspect is that you check your pool well, because you may have leaks that are not visible to the naked eye, but can cause large water losses.

Continue reading this other post to learn more about when is the best time to water your plants.

How to Save Water at Home - Save water in the garden and in the swimming pool

Fix water leaks

Repair water leaks. Leaky faucets can waste 11,000 gallons of water per year, and leaky toilet flushes can waste more than 100 gallons of water per day. So make sure your faucets are properly turned off, and replace washers promptly when faucets start dripping.

If you want to keep learning how to be more energy efficient at home and save money, check out these other posts:

If you want to read similar articles to How to Save Water at Home, we recommend you visit our Maintenance and home security category.

References
  1. World Health Organization. Water for human consumption. World Health Organization. Retrieved from: https://www.who.int/es/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/drinking-water
  2. Aqua Foundation. How much water is spent in a shower per minute? Aqua Foundation. Retrieved from: https://www.fundacionaquae.org/cuanta-agua-consume-la-ducha-minuto/

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How to Save Water at Home