1. Check your toilet for leaks.
Put a few drops of food coloring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing, the coloring begins to appear in the bowl., you have a leak that may be wasting more than 100 gallons of water a day.
2. Stop using your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket.
Every cigarette butt or tissue you flush away also flushes away five to seven gallons of water.
3. Put a plastic bottle in your toilet tank
Put an inch or two of sand or pebbles in the bottom of a one-liter bottle to weigh it down. Fill the rest of the bottle with water and put it in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanism. In an average home, the bottle may save five gallons or more of water every day without harming the toilet's efficiency. If your tank is big enough, you may even be able to put in two bottles.
4. Take shorter showers
A typical shower uses five to ten gallons of water a minute. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, washes down, and rise off.
5. Install water-saving showerheads or flow restrictors
Your hardware or plumbing supply store stocks inexpensive showerheads or flow restrictors that will cut your shower flow to about three gallons a minute instead of five to ten. They are easy to install, and your showers will still be cleansing and refreshing.
6. Turn off the water while shaving
Fill the bottom of the sink with a few inches of warm water in which to rinse your razor.
7. Check faucets and pipes for leaks
Even a small drip can waste 50 or more gallons of water a day. Leaks outside the house are easier to ignore since they don't mess up the floor or keep you awake at night. However, they can be even more wasteful than inside water leaks especially when they occur on your main water line.
8. Use your automatic dishwasher for full loads only
Every time you run your dishwasher, you use about 25 gallons of water.
9. Use your automatic washing machine only for full loads only
Your automatic washer uses 30 to 35 gallons per cycle.
10. If you wash dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing
If you have two sinks, fill one with rinse water. If you have only one sink, first gather all your washed dishes in a dish rack, then rinse them quickly with a spray device or a pan of water.
11. Water your lawn only when it needs it
Watering regularly doesn't allow for cool spells or rainfall, which reduces the need for watering. Step on some grass. If it springs back up when you move your foot, it doesn't need water, and when you do water your lawn, water it long enough for water to seep down to the roots where it is needed. A light sprinkling that sits on the surface will evaporate and be wasted.
12. Tell your children not to play with the hose and sprinklers
Children love to play under a hose or sprinkler on a hot day. Unfortunately, this practice is extremely wasteful of precious water and should be discouraged.
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