Water Conservation
Living in the Pacific North West, water conservation isn’t much of a topic. With the abundant amount of fresh drinking water we have it simply seams like an endless resource but being wasteful of this precious resource is a real concern. In addition to protecting our valuable resources, reducing your water usage will reduce your monthly bills. Did you know that your sewerage charges on your bill are based on your freshwater usage? Here are a few things that you can do to help reduce the amount of fresh water that needlessly goes down your drain.
1. Replace the older toilets in your home with low consumption toilets.
The low consumption or low flow toilets from the 1980’s gave this technology a bad name. Modern low consumption toilets have been engineered to have an extremely powerful flush while using 1.28 gallons per flush and in some cases 1 gallon per flush. And just to make this an even easier decision for your wallet, most water purveyors offer incentives to make the switch. EWEB offers a $35 rebate on the first toilet replacement and $15 for each additional replacement! Some older toilets can use more than 7 gallons of water every time it is flushed!
2. Replace the older shower heads in your home with new water saving shower heads.
Just like the bad reputation, low consumption toilets were given in the 80’s, low consumption shower heads were not something that people wanted to switch too due to the poor engineering that went into the design of these products. Today, low consumption shower heads deliver an amazing experience and you don’t even realize that you are using significantly less water than before! Often times, people would remove the water saving device from the shower heads which in some cases can cause you to waste greater than 6 gallons of water per minute! And an added bonus, using less water per minute in the shower means you are using less hot water as well, saving you even more money on your utility bill and helping you to not run out of hot water during your shower!
3. Consider installing a hot water recirculation loop in your home.
As plumbers, we hear the common complaint of “it takes forever for me to get hot water for my shower. I leave my shower running for several minutes before it finally gets hot”. All that cold water running down the drain while your waiting for it to warm up is money and resources going down the drain! Installing the drain! Installing this system in an already constructed home isn’t as big of a project as some may think. Installing a recirculation pump and a “comfort tee” in the bathroom furthest from the water heater can be a very quick and efficient process, saving you money and protecting our valuable resources. And not to mention, NO MORE WAITING FOR HOT WATER!
For more water saving tips and advice, Give us a call at PPR today!
