1. Use the dishwasher
You might be surprised to know that washing your dishes by hand takes more water than if you wash them in the dishwasher.
However, unless you have a newer dishwasher that senses the grime on your dishes only run your dishwasher when it has a full load. This is because you’ll use the same amount of water whether it’s half empty or completely full.
Don’t pre-rinse; scrape off your food into the trash or compost, then put the dishes in the dishwasher without rinsing them first.
2. Add faucet aerators
If you have a newer faucet, it may already have on inside it, but if your faucet doesn’t have an aerator, put one in it. This will reduce water flow, while maintaining water pressure, ultimately reducing the amount of water you use.
3. Drinking water
Instead of filling up a glass every time you’re thirsty (and waiting for water from the tap to get cold), fill a jug up with water and keep it in the refrigerator.
Alternatively, you can just add ice to your warm(ish) tap water.
4. Hot water in the kitchen
Instead of waiting for tap water to heat up, just add it to a pan to heat on the stove or place in a microwave-safe container to heat the water you need.
5. Add a point-of-use hot water heater
For just a couple hundred dollars you can install a point-of-use hot water heater under your kitchen sink. The second you turn on the tap you have hot water, reducing your water use and saving money on your water bill.
6. Avoid disposal use
As garbage disposals require water usage to run properly, use a compost bin, or simply trash food waste instead of using your disposal unit.
7. Low-flow showerhead
Instead of pumping out 5.5 gallons per minute, reduce your water usage by installing a low-flow showerhead which uses approximately 2.5 gallons per minute.
8. Stop dripping faucets
You might not think that annoying drip every few minutes is important to deal with, but you could be wasting as much as 1 to 2 thousand gallons of water each year.
9. Turn the water off when shaving or brushing teeth
You can just as easily rinse the sink out when you’re done and still use less water.
10. Toilet leaks
A leaky toilet can cost you hundreds of gallons of water every day. To see if yours is leaking, put a dye tablet in the tank and see if the color seeps into the bowl.
While each of these changes may seem small, when you combine each of them it could add up to a significant change in your water bill.
