Think for a moment about the amount of water you personally use on a daily basis. A typical family uses 60-80 gallons of water per person per day so this would mean that a family of four would use 240-320 gallons each day. Now think about this water amount times the number of people who live on your street, in your town, your state. That insignificant amount of water your household uses on a daily basis, when multiplied by the millions of households in Texas, becomes a very large consumption of water – and that’s just for one day.
In and around your own home there are things you can do to conserve water, and remember conserving water could also help lower your water bill. A large percentage of the water used in a normal household is used in the bathroom. A few easy things that everyone could implement into their daily routines include:
- Turning water off while brushing teeth.
- Turning water off while soaping hands, during hand washing.
- Taking showers. Less water is used during a typical shower as compared to amount of water used during a typical bath.
- In the commode’s tank place a plastic pop bottle filled with rocks. Make sure the lid is on tightly. This acts as a weight and will reduce the amount of water used by the commode.
Other places around the home where water conservation should be practiced include:
- Running washing machines and dishwashers with ONLY full loads.
- Running lawn sprinklers, garden sprinklers in the early morning or late evening when less evaporation will occur.
- Don’t water plants too often. Turf that is overwatered can develop shallow root systems, making it a target for insects and disease.
- Sprinklers systems
- Make sure sprinklers heads are set properly and not broken.
- Check placement of sprinklers. No matter how much you water it concrete will not grow, ever. So set your sprinklers to water the plants, not the concrete.
- Washing your automobile less frequently.
- Implementing a rainwater harvesting system.
- Implementing a grey-water system.
