Le coin des expertes de St. Ives

Diane MacEachern/ Mars 23 11

Most of us have been able to get water out of a tap since the minute we could turn the tap on, so it’s hard to believe that water supplies are shrinking nationwide. But as we’ve seen over the last few years, conserving water is important, and that’s true no matter where you live. It’s also good for your pocket book. The less water you use, the more money you save, not just on water, but on water heating bills, too.

Follow these tips to use water wisely:



1. Take shorter showers. Cut the amount of time you spend in the shower by half. Or, set a stretch goal and take a ten minute shower, tops. Use a kitchen timer to help you take a shorter, but smarter shower. Try playing two tracks from your favorite CD, then turn off the water when the second one comes to an end.
2. Turn off the tap when you brush your teeth. This is so simple, even a child can do it. In fact, if you have kids, brush your teeth together with the water faucet turned off.
3. Install a low-flow toilet. Many older toilets use as much as 6 gallons of water every time they’re flushed. Newer toilets have cut that down to 1.6 gallons without impacting performance. More eco-friendly options have a “dual flush” handle so you can choose how much water you need per flush. If you can’t replace an existing toilet, put a “toilet dam,” available at your local hardware store, in the toilet tank to displace at least a couple of quarts’ worth of water per flush.
4. Retrofit your faucets and showerheads with high-pressure, low-flow adapters. These adapters only cost a few dollars, far less than what you’d spend on wasted water and heating energy. The faucet adapters easily screw on to an existing faucet. Low-flow showerheads simply replace an existing showerhead.
5. Water plants with shower or bath water. Set a couple of non-breakable gallon-sized pitchers in a corner of the shower and ignore them while you lather up and rinse off. Leave the pitchers there until you need them to water your plants.

NOTE: You should be able to find any of the water conservation devices suggested above at your local hardware store.