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Even in Florida, where it seems like there is a plethora of water around at all times, it’s important to think about water conservation. Not only is it beneficial for our environment, but it is also great for your wallet. If you haven’t updated your plumbing in a few years, there are likely a few places where you’re wasting a lot of water and losing a lot of money.
Rain Barrel
There are a lot of great uses for rainwater that most of us pass up because we don’t think about it or we think it would be too difficult to take advantage of, but it’s much easier than it may seem.
Some of the ways you can use rainwater include:
Watering your lawn and plants
Washing your car
Cleaning the windows or exterior of your home
Refilling bird baths, ponds, and water features
Your rainwater barrel will save you tons of water throughout the year with the many ways you can make use of it.
Water Heater
Switching from a traditional water heater to a tankless water heater is one way to improve the efficiency of your home’s plumbing. Conventional water heaters are usually around 40 gallons and use a lot of energy to keep that 40 gallons of water at a constant temperature, especially in the winter when it has to work even harder to combat outside temperatures.
Additionally, by changing the fuel source of your water heater, you could greatly reduce the amount of energy you use. Most tankless water heaters are powered by either natural gas or electricity, with natural gas being the most efficient option.
Toilets
Older toilets, which are still in use, use about 7 gallons of water with every flush. If we assume that the average person flushes the toilet 7 times per day, this means that we use nearly 18,000 gallons of water a year just on our toilets. Luckily, advancements have been made, and we now have toilets that use as little as 1.3 gallons of water every time they flush which is equivalent to water savings of about 14,700 gallons of water every year.
Showerheads
Similarly, with toilets, the standard showerhead wastes an abundance of water. Additionally, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, nearly 17 percent of residential water use is attributed to showering.
The average showerhead uses about 2.5 gallons of water per minute. If we assume that the average shower is only 10 minutes long, then this is equivalent to nearly 10,000 gallons of annual water use for each individual in your household just for showering.
To combat this water waste, consider installing a showerhead with a WaterSense label. This would guarantee that your shower head was using no more than 2 gallons of water per minute, which might not seem like a significant difference, but over a year, the water savings add up.
Sinks
The same goes for your sink faucets; most standard faucets use 2.2 gallons of water per minute while a WaterSense faucet uses a maximum of 1.5 gallons per minute.
Additionally, if you want a more efficient bathroom but don’t want to deal with the hassle or expense of replacing all of the fixtures, you can install aerators. These are inexpensive and easy to install devices that will restrict the flow of water on your current faucets.
There are many opportunities for you to improve efficiency throughout your home, even beyond what we discussed in this blog post. If you have more questions regarding what you can do to start saving water, don’t hesitate to call our plumbing professionals at Brownie’s Septic and Plumbing.