Impact the Environment by Conserving Water

All you need to do is turn on any news station these days and we receive the constant reminder of global warming, polar ice caps melting and the list goes on and on. Do you think they, the so-called experts, are trying to get your attention to make some changes in your life to conserve energy and be more efficient?

The answer is simply yes they are. Well the good news is you do not need to go save the whales near Greenland or go work for Green Peace. The bad news is you will have to make some changes however; these changes will not break the bank or make you exhausted at the end of the day.

How did you feel when your municipality made the change one day that you will now separate your garbage into cans, plastic bottles, and paper? Now for those of you that weren’t around prior to recycling you more than likely do not remember, but for us that were here I am sure you, like me, were saying, are you kidding me?

It was annoying at first but you got adjusted to it and more than likely can’t imagine what it would be like if you didn’t do it. The best part is, it takes very little more effort than what you did before, and only required a slight change in lifestyle, like throwing some of your garbage into a blue container as opposed to your trash can.

This same philosophy holds true with your water. With a slight change in the way you and your family do things, you can make a big difference. Let’s take for instance that there are about 200 million households in the United States (according the Census Bureau). If each household made a slight change to conserve water and save on heating that water you can see the impact it would have on the environment.

Using our Census Bureau numbers if we found a way to save just one gallon of water per day, each day for one year, we would save 73,000,000,000, that’s 73 billion with a “b”, gallons each year. Now that is a huge impact.

Here are a couple of tips that you can use to can immediately impact saving some water in your home.

Keep the water turned off while brushing your teeth. This alone will save 1 to 2 gallons per day. Not brushing your teeth is not an option here. You still need to good dental hygiene.

Reduce the water flow rate on your toilet. Inside your tank basin is a rubber dial where you can set the amount of water that flows when you flush. Reduce that a couple of settings and you will save a few gallons over the course of a week.

Take a shower instead of a bath. Sure baths are more relaxing, however when you take a shower you use less water. Also turn the water off in the shower when you are lathering up. Over a week that will save 2 to 3 gallons. Only keep the water on in the shower when you are actually using it.

Again these are tips that are not life threatening nor require any type of special education. They simple require small life changes. If we could all get on board with these tips we could save billions of gallons of water annually.