My Family’s Water Saving Tips And Techniques

by Mark Goldstein
(Allentown, New Jersey)

I wanted to share my family’s water saving tips. We believe water is a precious resource, so water conservation is a focus at my house. The first thing that I would recommend is to check your entire home for leaks.

Check the meter twice after shutting every water consuming fixture off. If you have even the slightest leak, assume the worst and consult a local plumber.

While taking a shower we place a bucket to store the excess water and this in turn is used for watering my wife’s vegetable garden. Same process can be adopted with excess water from the sink.

The washing machine is only used when there is full load because it wastes both energy and water when washing a light load. I strung up a few cords in the backyard, and we use the cords as clothes lines to dry wet clothes whenever possible.

We sold our dishwasher, so we do the dishes manually now, and yes I often help my wife out. While washing the dishes, fill one side with soap water wash the dishes with that and quickly rinse them with the water in the other side of the sink.

I’ve recently learned that rain water can also be saved, and there several techniques. Last year I install a water capture in the garden which collects and rain water, which I usually use for the lawn at a later time.

This was probably the best step we’ve taken to save water throughout the house. It doesn’t rain much but when it does I have enough lawn water for almost a month.