Wasted Water Is Money Down the Drain

Conserving water is a fantastic habit to get into because it saves water and reduces wastewater treatment costs. Conserving hot water can even save you money on your Toronto heating and cooling bills.

Let us start by explaining how conserving water can result in potential cost savings. Basically, it’s a simple process in which all the water that drains away from showers, sinks, and toilets ends up in the sewage treatment plant. The more water the sewage plant has to process, the higher the costs are. So the more water generated by a toilet flush, the brushing of your teeth, washing of your hands, showering, etc., the more wastewater ends up at the sewage treatment plant. If you could reduce the amount of water being generated — by perhaps having a 3.5-gallon toilet installed instead of a 5 or 7-gallon toilet, or even just using water-efficient fixtures — you could cut down on the costs of treating the water.

When trying to conserve water, the water meter is your best friend. If you are on a public Toronto water system, it should be easy to find your water meter because it will be located either on your property or very close to it. The water meter will tell you how much water you are using, and it can help you detect leaks. To read a water meter, take the second reading and subtract the first reading from it. The answer will equal how many cubic feet of water you have used. Keep in mind: there are 7.5 gallons of water in one cubic foot. It should also help to know that a family of four uses about 1,500 gallons of water per day maintaining an average Toronto household and garden.

Water meters can also be used to detect leaks. All you have to do is turn off every plumbing fixture in your house for a couple of hours and take a meter reading. If the reading changes, a leak exists. Keep in mind: you must not forget to shut off the built-in icemaker or the reverse osmosis water filtration system, because they turn on automatically.

Bathrooms are the rooms that use the most water. Toilet use accounts for about 40% of your water use. If you are looking to conserve water, you should definitely use a 3.5 or 1.6 gallons-per-flush toilet. Simply converting from a 7-gallon toilet to a 1.6-gallon toilet can reduce your overall water use by 25% or more. Furthermore, a leaky toilet will waste 50 gallons of water or more per day, regardless of its size.

If you think your toilet might have a leak, there is an easy way to find out for sure — it’s called the food coloring test. Simply place a few drops of food coloring into the tank and allow the toilet to go unused for about 15–20 minutes. When you return, check to see if the water in the toilet bowl has a tint of the food coloring in it. If so, you have a toilet leak. The leak is usually the result of loose fittings or worn washers. Try installing a new washer or tightening the fittings. If that doesn’t work, have your Toronto plumber fix the problem right away.

Another way to conserve water is to install low-flow water fixtures. These are especially useful for showerheads. Traditional showerheads allow a flow of seven gallons per minute, which for a five-minute shower equals 35 gallons of water. By switching to a low-flow showerhead using 3.5 gallons per minute, you can reduce the water used in a shower by half. Also, if you are using less hot water, it will show up each month on your Toronto gas and electric bill.

Lastly, you can conserve water by keeping an eye on the kitchen and laundry. Dishwashers and clothes washers use 17 to 35 gallons of water per load, so it would be a good idea to run full loads at all times. Also, during the summer, you might want to watch how careless you are with your outdoor water use. Simply washing an automobile can use 100 gallons of water, and watering the grass can add up to even more.

Article Source: http://www.plumbingkey.com/conserving-water.html