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Simple Ways to Save Water at Home

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	By Contributing Editor Kristina Strain		eComposter Price: $230.00		Herb Starter Garden Price: $24.95		Biobag Lawn & Yard Bags Price: $11.95

Water conservation at home is a simple and it can have a big impact on both your water bill and the planet. There are a lot of things you can do that require no special equipment and many more that only require a small investment. Interested in saving water at home but don't know where to start? This article is for you.

In many parts of the world, people use water far faster than it can be replenished naturally. We--most of us, anyway-- get our water from underground aquifers, which refill slowly in arid regions, and more quickly in wet regions. When an aquifer is "overdrawn," that is, pumped out more quickly than it can refill itself, water shortages are possible. Making your home a water-efficient place to be is the best defense against water shortages of the future. Fortunately, there are plenty of easy, low-cost ways to save water at home.

1. Bucket break. A simple way to save a lot of water is to capture the water going down the drain when you are waiting for hot--or cold-- water. During the spring and summer when my garden is thirsty, I keep a bucket by the kitchen sink. Any time I need hot water, I let the cool water run into the bucket and then take that out for watering the garden. You can do the same with a bucket in the bathroom to catch shower water while it is warming up.

2. Canning collection. Another option if you do any water bath canning in the summer is to save the water you used for canning and once it is cool, take it out to the garden. These certainly won’t save massive amounts of water but if you are consistent with it you could possibly save a gallon or two a day. If you are container gardening that might be enough to keep things going pretty well. Plus, the water in your canner will likely be full of nutrients.

3. Rain barrels. We talked about rain barrels in another article, which are an excellent way to save water to be used in the garden or yard. If they aren’t full you can also use them to hold the water you are catching in the shower or the sink.

4. Toilet tech. If you have an older toilet at home you can place a weighted milk jug, mason jar or any other large container into the tank to take up some of the space that would normally be filled up by water. You will use a little less with each flush this way. You might also consider a dual flush conversion kit, which allows you to flush liquid waste with half the water for big water savings over time. We also have a great review/how-to article on dual-flush conversion kits.

5. Speedy showers. A simple way to involve the kids might be to have a shower “race.” All you need is a kitchen timer. Make sure everyone knows the goal is not just to get out of the shower quickly but to get clean and get out quickly! Set the kitchen timer for 5 minutes and see if they can beat the clock. You can try it too. A shorter shower means less water down the drain. I have yet to have regular 5 minute showers but I have cut down to about 7 or 8 minutes on most days.

6. That's using your head. If you want to invest a little bit of money in water conservation, the shower is a great place to start. You can invest in low-flow showerheads to cut back the water flowing down the drain. If you are in the habit of starting the shower and then doing other things while waiting for the hot water, the Evolve line of products is great. Basically once the hot water gets to the shower head, the flow is slowed down to a trickle until you hop into the shower and flip the switch. This saves water because less is going down the drain and it will also save energy as you will be using less hot water for your shower.

7. Grey Water. If you want to save water in the yard there are a variety of things to try. You can make sure any landscaping that you add is well suited to grow in your area so it will require less special attention. Where I live that means anything we add to the yard should be drought tolerant so we don’t have to water as much. If you are installing a lawn sprinkler system look into a greywater recycling system. Grey water systems are great for yard and landscaping irrigation but not so great for vegetable gardening. If every product you used in your sink, shower, bath and laundry was mild and biodegradable, it might be okay for your vegetables. It is hard to find a hard and fast answer on this though as some places say you definitely cannot use greywater on vegetables and others says if it is all biodegradable and such, it is fine. Check out our article on getting started with greywater for more information.

There are so many different things you can do to save water at home, but the most important is to get started saving and re-using. What steps are you taking?

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