Ideal Living - Fall 2010

We all know a leaky faucet is not just a nuisance, but a waste of water as well. A faucet that drips one time each second wastes up to 3,000 gallons of water each year. But it’s not just the leaky faucets that waste water. Faucets themselves account for more than 15 percent of indoor water usage.

Installing a water-efficient faucet can reduce a sink’s water flow by up to 30 percent, helping save more than 500 gallons each year without compromising performance. Additionally, these water savings will reduce the demand on your home’s water heater, thus helping save energy.

While a nice bath may sound relaxing, did you know the average bath requires 70 gallons of water while a shower uses only 10 to 25 gallons? Nearly 1. 2 trillion gallons of water are used in the U.S. just for showering—enough to meet the water supply needs of New York and New Jersey for a year!

Standard shower heads use 2. 5 gallons
of water a minute (gpm). Consider pur-
chasing a new showerhead that uses no
more than 2gpm. By simply installing
new, water-efficient shower heads, the
average household can save close to 2,300
gallons of water each year and in the
process help lower their energy costs.
If you’re ready to start saving water in
your own bathrooms, look for products
baring the WaterSense label. The Water-
Sense label (part of an EPA partnership
program) helps consumers identify water-
efficient products and ensures consumer
confidence in those products by certifying
conformance to WaterSense specifications,
efficiency, performance
and periodic market sur-
veillance. Products bearing
the WaterSense label per-
form as well as or better
than their counterparts
in addition to being 20 percent more
water efficient than average products in
the same category.
Next time you wash your hands or
take a shower, consider this: according
to Drinktap.org, if all U.S. households
installed water-saving features in their
homes, water use would decrease by 30
percent, saving an estimated 5. 4 billion
gallons of water each day. |