Easy ways to save water at home
Water is a precious resource and we can all help preserve it.
In fact, it can be very easy to save liters of water a year without too much effort. Here are a few ideas:
In the bathroom
If there’s one room in the house where we use a lot of water, it’s the bathroom. You can easily save the so-called “blue gold” every time you use the toilet, shower or bath. For example:
- Take quick showers. Don’t linger under hot water, even if it’s very pleasant.
- Did you know it’s possible to replace your shower head for a low-flow version? It’s a great way to save water!
- Even better: you can install a device that you can press to interrupt the water while you’re soaping up!
- If you prefer baths, fill the tub to the minimum to avoid using too much water.
- When you brush your teeth, turn off the water when you’re not using it.
- You can also install a restricted flow toilet model. Some toilets have two buttons to use less water when you’re only doing a number one.
In the kitchen
A few little tricks can help you save the water you use to wash dishes. For example:
- Only run your dishwasher when it is completely full.
- If you wash dishes by hand, don’t leave the water running. Instead, fill a basin or the sink.
- Prefer composting rather than using the garbage disposal, which requires a lot of water to operate.
- Make sure the faucet has no leaks, because the loss of just one drop of water per second is equivalent to 10,000 liters of water per year. That’s a lot of water!
Outdoors
During the summer season, it’s also easy to do your bit. For example, you can :
- The watering of your plants and lawn loses much of its effectiveness if it’s done in very hot weather. In the middle of the afternoon, 60% of the water evaporates! So it’s best to water early in the morning or late in the evening.
- Don’t use water to clean your driveway. Use a broom instead!
- To wash your car or your outside windows, use a bucket with soapy water rather than a garden hose, which uses much more water.
- You can install a barrel or other large container to recover rainwater.
- Always make sure you comply with your town’s laws on watering and filling pools during droughts and heatwaves.
- Don’t fill your pool more than 15 cm from the edge to prevent the water from overflowing when you’re swimming or your children are playing in the pool. Also check for any breaks in the pool wall through which water is leaking. Fixing these leaks will save you a lot of water.
As you can see, it’s easy to change your habits to save several liters of water a year and do your part to preserve this important resource. If it’s not possible for you to put all these tips into practice, applying a few of them will still make a noticeable difference.
