Green your Water Use

Tip #1: Fix a leak.

The EPA’s WaterSense program has declared March 20-26 “Fix a Leak Week” and is advising people to check their plumbing and irrigation systems and fix them if needed. According to the agency, water leaks in U.S. homes account for more than 1 trillion wasted gallons per year. To find out whether your home has a leak, check your water meter. Then wait two hours without using any water. Then check the meter again. If the reading changes, you’ve got a leak. American Water’s leak-detection kit (PDF) provides other useful ideas for detecting sources of wasted water.

Tip #2 Have some sense.

The next time you need to replace a water-using appliance — whether a toilet, a faucet, or a showerhead — remember to look for the WaterSense label. Fixtures with that seal of approval have been tested and certified to save at least 20% more water than a non-certified counterpart; here's a complete list of WaterSense products.

Tip #3: Clean up your act in the shower.

When you consider that showering uses 7 gallons of water per minute, it starts to hit home why you’d want to turn off that tap earlier. Low-flow showerheads certainly help — they’ll get you down to 2.5 gallons per minute — but the biggest savings occurs when you just jump in, rinse off, then get out. Need more of an incentive?