www.TalkingClimateChange.com

Do you know that water is a non renewable resource and we are very soon going to run out of usable water if we continue using water at the pace we are doing nowadays. Water conservation is the need of the hour if we want to live. Life is not possible without water, and if we keep in wasting water the way we generally do, we will very soon be faced with a world where there is no water. In order to avoid coming across this doomsday scenario, it is important that all of us do our own little bit in order to save water. Here, we give you some great water conservation tips that you can apply to your daily life to save water.

Turn Off The Water While Brushing: Do you know that a large number of people spend 5 to 25 gallons of water on a task like brushing. Most of us do not turn off the faucet while brushing and it keeps gushing out water at the rate of three to five gallons per minute. You can easily brush comfortably with just half a gallon of water if you turn off the faucet after wetting your toothbrush and turn it on again only when you need to rinse. Apply the same principle while you are shaving and you will easily save 20 to 30 gallons per day during these two tasks only.

Take Shorter Showers: We are all so fond of showers that we keep taking one every now and then, and many people shower at least twice a day. While this is no doubt a good practice, letting the shower wash over you for ages is not. One uses at least 25 to 50 gallons of water per five minute shower, since most shower heads pass at least five to ten gallons of water every minute. Stop the shower while you are applying soap and shampoo and try to cut down on washing time. Even if you cut your shower time by two minutes, you can save ten to twenty gallons of water.

Mend All Leaks: Do you know that a single leaking faucet or pipe can lead to wastage of up to 50 gallons of water per day. On top of this, statistics confirm that at any point of time, at least twenty to thirty percent toilets in the country have a leak.  Even a small drop by drop leak can fill up two to three full size bath tubs in a day. Now that you know how much water your small leak is wasting, get it fixed fast to avoid wasting even more.

Always Put in Full Loads: It is a common practice to run the dishwasher or washing machine with only two to three pieces of utensils or clothes, but this is an extremely bad habit when it comes to water conservation. Since most dishwashers and machines use the same amount of water whether you wash a full or a partial load, it is wiser to wash full rather than waste large amounts of water for washing two or three pieces. You can easily collect your dirty clothes till they make a full load and wash three to four dishes by hand thereby saving fifty to hundred gallons of water.

Water conservation is a big issue as we finally wake up to the fact that our finite supply of water is not going to last infinitely. Saving water is everyone’s duty and doing so is even more important for people living in big cities since limited resources need to be shared by very large populations in big cities. In order to make sure that there is enough water to fulfill everyone’s needs in a big city, we can all follow some of these simple and easy tips to save water:

• Never keep the water running unnecessarily while performing your daily toilette. Shut off the faucet while brushing, shaving and washing your hands and turn it on only when you really need to wash, and not when you are just waiting to.

• Operate your washing machine and dishwasher only with full loads instead of using them for washing partial loads and you can end up saving hundreds of gallons per week.

• Mend all the leaks in your bathroom, kitchen and garden and you can end up saving up to fifty gallons of water per day.

• Start using aerated showerheads and taps to save water. They will give you a similar water pressure but save up to 50% water by combining their water flow with air.

• Do not keep the water running while doing dishes or washing vegetables. Instead, fill a sink with water and wash your dishes and vegetables in it.

• Fill a jug or bottle with water to drink and keep it on your kitchen counter or fridge. This will stop you from running the faucet till it starts producing cold water.

• If you have a garden, then water it during early morning hours, since this is the time when evaporation is the least. Plant during spring or fall since your plants will need lesser water as compared to planting in the summer. Do not let your sprinkler run unattended and make sure that it sprinkles only over your green area instead of watering your drive and passage.

• Cook food in utensils that are the appropriate size instead of cooking in large pans since larger utensils would require more water for cooking the same amount of stuff. Use the minimum amount of water possible for cooking. This will not only save water, it will also ensure that you lose lesser nutrients from your food.

• Attach spray nozzles to your garden hose so that you can regulate the flow of water as and when you need it. A lot of plants die due to over watering. With a controlled hose, you can ensure that you provide just the required amount of water to your plants. At the same time you can save tens of gallons of water by stopping the water supply while moving from one place to another or directing water where it is needed instead of letting it flow uselessly.

• Shorten the time period of your shower. Every minute in the shower wastes at least four to five gallons of water. You can easily save ten gallons of water per shower if you shorten your shower by just two minutes.

Water as we all know is one thing that nobody can ever do without. At the same time, we all know that water is non renewable, and should therefore be used as sparingly as possible so that it lasts long enough for everyone to have a glass of water as and when they want it instead of looking out for water substitutes. We can all do our bit to save water by following a few simple tips in our day to day lives. Some very simple things that you can do to save water without changing your lifestyle even a single bit are:

Brush Wisely: A large number of people keep the faucet running all the time that they are brushing. Depending upon personal habit, this could range anywhere between a minute to five minutes, where you waste 4 to 5 gallons of water per minute. A better and more environment friendly way to brush is to wet your toothbrush, turn off the tap and then turn it on again only when you need to rinse. This way you save at least five to ten gallons of water while ensuring that the taps will still be running ten years hence.

Wash Conservatively: We are so used to our washing machines and dishwashers running all the time that we now run them even if we have to wash just a couple of clothes and dishes. Both dishwashers and washing machines consume a lot of water, whether you run them with less than a half load or a full load. Therefore, you should always run these machines only when you have a full load. If you just have to wash a couple of dishes, then doing it by hand saves water and is also faster.

Flush Without Wasting: We waste ten to twenty liters of water every time we flush our toilets. However, the purpose can be solved by using lesser water for flushing. If you are in the process of building a new house or installing new toilets, then get it fitted with flushes that use only ten liters of water instead of the usual twenty. Both work equally effectively. Otherwise, you can also go for the option of getting your flush lever changed for a knob that lets you regulate the amount of water you use for flushing. This will hardly cost you anything, but save you a lot of water everyday. If you cannot do any of these things, you can just fill a plastic one liter bottle with water and keep it inside your flush tank where it does not interfere with the flush mechanism( this would be at the corners or the side). Every time you flush, you will be saving a liter, saving at least twenty to thirty liters or 5-8 gallons per day if you live with a family. 

Water Plants At the Right Time: If you have a garden or keep plants, then water them during the morning or in the late afternoon. Apart from being the best time for your plants, this routine ensures that lesser water gets evaporated than when you water them during day time. Do not make the mistake of leaving your sprinklers on all the time, and you can save a lot of water in your garden too.

Conserving water is important for all of us everywhere, but it becomes more so for people who are living in drought prone areas. If you live in a state or area that is arid or drought prone, then it becomes all the more necessary to save water as and when possible in order to avoid possible water shortages and droughts. Water consumption in the garden takes up the lion’s share of water expenditure in a home, especially in an area that is dry where the garden needs to be irrigated everyday. Therefore, it is important that you optimize your garden for saving water, so that you do not have to face water shortage problems or droughts in your area. Some tips on how you can optimize you garden to save water are:

· Do not let water run unattended in your garden. You should switch on your watering hose only when you are there and water the plants manually. Leaving the water running can waste hundreds of gallons in just a few minutes. If you use a sprinkler system, then make sure that you time it and turn it off as soon as your garden is watered. If possible, get an automatic mechanism to turn your sprinkler on and off.

· Your choice of sprinklers can make a lot of difference to the amount of water that goes waste in your garden. When you install your sprinklers, make sure that they sprinkle only on the planted area instead of washing your sidewalk or drive. When buying sprinklers, get ones that create heavy droplets instead of the ones that create a fine mist. This reduces water loss due to heat and evaporation and your garden will get watered faster too.

· When planting grass and ground cover, make sure that you use plants that are native to the area that you live in or come from another dry area. These plants will adapt more easily to your lawn or garden and will also require less water because they would be used to your local climate.

· A large amount of water in gardens is lost to evaporation. Therefore, you should take steps to minimize losses due to evaporation in your garden. Watering plants early morning or late afternoon reduces losses due to evaporation when compared to watering during the day. Use sprinklers and hoses that are less prone to evaporation and if you have any fountains or water bodies, locate them in the coolest area of your garden to minimize evaporation.

· If you use a hose to water you plants, then you can easily attach a spray nozzle to it in order to regulate the amount of water that passes through the hose. This small step itself can save gallons of water everyday as you move from one place to another in your garden or provide your potted plants with only as much water as they actually need.

· If you are planting turf or grass, try doing it during the spring or fall. Not only will it give you the best results, it will also save a lot of water as compared to planting in summer months.

Conserving water has become the need of the hour because of the non-renew ability of water combined with its necessity. We as a planet are running out of water, which unlike other things is necessary for living. It is not just the government or civic bodies whose duty it is to conserve water, but all of us are equally responsible for saving water for tomorrow by using it judiciously today. By following a few simple steps, we can conserve hundreds of gallons per day per day per household. All we need to do is use water wisely in the kitchen, bathrooms and in our gardens, and we can end up saving almost as much as we spend per day. Since the kitchen is one place where water is used a lot every day, it should be the first place to start house hold water conservation. Some simple tips that will help you save water in the kitchen are:

· One thing that you should always pay attention to is the time you keep the faucet running without doing anything substantial. At the same time, you might have noticed that the faucet generally provides more water than required for your task. The best thing to do to save water in your kitchen is to start using an attachment that either lets you regulate the flow of water from your faucet or decreases it substantially. We can generally do with only one-third of the water that our faucet provides while washing vegetables or doing the dishes. You can use external attachments that fit on to any kind of faucet to provide a lesser amount of water. These can be bought from any home supply store for five to ten dollars.

· If you do not want a slower supply of water, you can get an aerated faucet for your kitchen sink, which will provide you water at the same pressure that you were getting earlier, but still save on water by mixing its water output with a high percentage of air.

· If you do not or cannot change or attach any fixtures in your kitchen, you can still save on water by running the faucet only when it is absolutely necessary to do so. Start washing vegetables in pans or sinks full of water instead of washing them under running water. Instead of defrosting food under running water, keep it outside the freezer or in the fridge 4-6 hours before use. Try not to use the microwave too much for defrosting, for while this will save on water, you will still be wasting energy that is produced from non renewable fuel.

· Do not use your dishwasher or washing machine when you have to wash only a small number of utensils or clothes. This is because even partial or half loads consume almost an equal amount of water as that used for a full load. If you only have to wash just a couple of dishes, try washing them by hand to save water.