viktoryia_tips

http://www.eartheasy.com/live_water_saving.htm __1. Check for hidden water leaks__ Read the house water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, there is a leak.

__2. Check your toilets for leaks__ Put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing, the color begins to appear in the bowl within 30 minutes, you have a leak that should be repaired immediately. Most replacement parts are inexpensive and easy to install.

__3. Don't use the toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket__ Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tissue or other small bit of trash, five to seven gallons of water is wasted.

__4. Put plastic bottles in your toilet tank__ To cut down on water waste, put an inch or two of sand or pebbles inside each of two plastic bottles to weigh them down. Fill the bottles with water, screw the lids on, and put them in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanisms. This may save ten or more gallons of water per day. Be sure at least 3 gallons of water remain in the tank so it will flush properly. For new installations, consider buying "low flush" toilets, which use 1 to 2 gallons per flush instead of the usual 3 to 5 gallons.

Replacing an 18 liter per flush toilet with an ultra-low volume (ULV) 6 liter flush model represents a 70% savings in water flushed and will cut indoor water use by about 30%.

__5. Insulate your water pipes.__ It's easy and inexpensive to insulate your water pipes with pre-slit foam pipe insulation. You'll get hot water faster plus avoid wasting water while it heats up.

__6. Install water-saving shower heads and low-flow faucet aerators__ Inexpensive water-saving shower heads or restrictors are easy for the homeowner to install. Also, long, hot showers can use five to ten gallons every unneeded minute. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off. You can easily install a ShowerStart showerhead, or add a ShowerStart converter to existing showerheads, which automatically pauses a running shower once it gets warm. Also, all household faucets should be fit with aerators. This single best home water conservation method is also the cheapest!

__7. Take shorter showers.__ One way to cut down on water use is to turn off the shower after soaping up, then turn it back on to rinse. A four-minute shower uses approximately 20 to 40 gallons of water.

__8. Turn off the water after you wet your toothbrush__ There is no need to keep the water running while brushing your teeth. Just wet your brush and fill a glass for mouth rinsing.

__9. Rinse your razor in the sink__ Fill the sink with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your razor just as well as running water, with far less waste of water.

__10. Check faucets and pipes for leaks__ A small drip from a worn faucet washer can waste 20 gallons of water per day. Larger leaks can waste hundreds of gallons.

__11. Use your dishwasher and clothes washer for only full loads__ Automatic dishwashers and clothes washers should be fully loaded for optimum water conservation. With clothes washers, avoid the permanent press cycle, which uses an added 20 liters (5 gallons) for the extra rinse. For partial loads, adjust water levels to match the size of the load. Replace old clothes washers. New Energy Star rated washers use 35 - 50% less water and 50% less energy per load. If you're in the market for a new clothes washer, consider buying a water-saving frontload washer.

__12. Minimize use of kitchen sink garbage disposal units__ In sink 'garburators' require lots of water to operate properly, and also add considerably to the volume of solids in a septic tank which can lead to maintenance problems. Start a compost pile or use an indoor kitchen composter as alternate methods of disposing food waste.

__13. When washing dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing__ If your have a double-basin, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you have a single-basin sink, gather washed dishes in a dish rack and rinse them with a spray device or a panful of hot water.

__14. Don't let the faucet run while you clean vegetables__ Just rinse them in a stoppered sink or a pan of clean water.

__15. Keep a bottle of drinking water in the fridge.__ Running tap water to cool it off for drinking water is wasteful.


 * in the yard and garden...**

__16. Water your lawn only when it needs it__ A good way to see if your lawn needs watering is to step on the grass. If it springs back up when you move, it doesn't need water. If it stays flat, the lawn is ready for watering. Letting the grass grow taller (to 3") will promote water retention in the soil.

__17. Deep-soak your lawn__ When watering the lawn, do it long enough for the moisture to soak down to the roots where it will do the most good. A light sprinkling can evaporate quickly and tends to encourage shallow root systems. Put an empty tuna can on your lawn - when it's full, you've watered about the right amount. Visit our natural lawn care page for more information.

__18. Water during the early parts of the day; avoid watering when it's windy__ Early morning is generally better than dusk since it helps prevent the growth of fungus. Early watering, and late watering, also reduce water loss to evaporation. Watering early in the day is also the best defence against slugs and other garden pests. Try not to water when it's windy - wind can blow sprinklers off target and speed evaporation.

__19. Use efficient watering systems for shrubs, flower beds and lawns__ You can greatly reduce the amount of water used for shrubs, beds and lawns with strategic placement of soaker hoses, rain barrel catchment systems and simple drip-irrigation systems. A watering meter can be easily added to your hose, and lawn sprinlker timers can be used to set water usage to required needs.

__20. Plant drought-resistant shrubs and plants__ Many beautiful shrubs and plants thrive with far less watering than other species. Replace herbaceous perennial borders with native plants. Consider applying the principles of xeriscape for a low-maintenance, drought resistant yard.

__21. Put a layer of mulch around trees and plants__ Mulch will slow evaporation of moisture while discouraging weed growth.

__22. Don't water the gutter__ Position your sprinklers so water lands on the lawn or garden, not on paved areas. Also, avoid watering on windy days.

__23. Don't run the hose while washing your car__ Clean the car using a pail of soapy water. Use the hose only for rinsing. Better yet, use a waterless car washing system, which can save up to 100 gallons of water per wash.

__24. Use a broom, not a hose, to clean driveways and sidewalks__

__25. Check for leaks in pipes, hoses, faucets and couplings__ Leaks outside the house may not seem as bad since they're not as visible. But they can be just as wasteful as leaks indoors. Check frequently to keep them drip-free. Use hose washers at spigots and hose connections to eliminate leaks.

http://www.eartheasy.com/grow_xeriscape.htm
 * **Tips on saving water(gardening)**

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/how_to_green_your_water.php __1. No drips__ A dripping faucet can waste 20 gallons of water a day. A leaking toilet can use 90,000 gallons of water in a month. Get out the wrench and change the washers on your sinks and showers, or get new washerless faucets. Keeping your existing equipment well maintained is probably the easiest and cheapest way to start saving water.

__2. Install new fixtures__ New, low-volume or dual flush toilets, low-flow showerheads, water-efficient dishwashers and clothes washing machines can all save a great deal of water and money. Aerators on your faucets can significantly reduce water volume; water-saving showerheads can cut the volume of water used down to 1.2 gallons per minute or less, and some even have a “pause button” to let you stop the water while soaping up or shampooing. Our interns recently pointed out that “spending about $30 on low-flow showerheads and faucets is estimated to save 45 gallons of that 260 gallons of water [used in a typical household per day], almost 18% of your usage. Splurging on a low-flow toilet could save another 50-80 gallons of water a day. Together, those changes nearly cut in half the household's daily use, saving a considerable amount of water – and passing that savings on to your water bill, as well as your water heating bill.”

__3. Cultivate good water habits__ All the water that goes down the drain, clean or dirty, ends up mixing with raw sewage, getting contaminated, and meeting the same fate. Try to stay aware of this precious resource disappearing and turn off the water while brushing your teeth or shaving and always wash laundry and dishes with full loads. When washing dishes by hand, fill up the sink and turn off the water. Take shorter showers or, as the old joke goes, shower with a friend: Treehugger TV shows you how. To put things in perspective, take a quick look at your next water bill when it arrives. It probably won’t be costing you too much, but the average household consumes multiple thousands of gallons each month. See if you can make this number go down. If you’re the graphing type, go nuts.

__4. Stay off the bottle__ By many measures, bottled water is a scam. In most first-world countries, the tap water is provided by a government utility and is tested regularly. (You can look up your water in the National Tap Water Quality Database) Taste tests have shown that in many municipalities, tap water actually tastes better. Bottled water is not as well regulated and studies have shown that it is not even particularly pure. A four-year study of bottled water in the U.S. conducted by NRDC found that one-fifth of the 103 water products tested contained synthetic organic chemicals such as the neurotoxin xylene and the possible carcinogen and neurotoxin styrene. (Grist) Much bottled water doesn’t come from a “Artesian springs” and is just tap water anyhow. (Coca-Cola adds salt to its Dasani water to make it taste better, just like fast food.) Not only is it more expensive per gallon than gasoline, bottled water incurs a huge carbon footprint from its transportation, and the discarded bottles are a blight. It’s no wonder that some people even think it’s a sin. If you want to carry your water with you, get a bottle and fill it. (Look here for some advise on durable, non-toxic container options.) If your water at home tastes funny, try an activated charcoal or ceramic filter. Here is a comparison of home-use water filters from Grist.

__5. Go beyond the lawn__ Naturalize it using locally appropriate plants that are hardy and don’t need a lot of water. If you have to water, do it during the coolest part of the day or at night to minimize evaporation. Here is a useful calculator to figure out landscape water use. Xeriscaping is a method of landscaping that utilizes only native and low water plants. It is an especially appropriate approach for states like California and Arizona where people often plant lawns like they live in Florida despite living in the desert.

__6. Harvest your rainwater__ Put a rain barrel on your downspouts and use this water for irrigation. Rain cisterns come in all shapes and sizes ranging from larger underground systems to smaller, freestanding ones. Some even glow!

__7. Harvest your greywater__ Water that has been used at least once but is still clean enough for other jobs is called greywater. Water from sinks, showers, dishwashers, and clothes washers are the most common household examples. (Toilet water is often called “blackwater” and needs a different level of treatment before it can be reused.) Greywater can be recycled with practical plumbing systems like the Aqus, or with simple practices such as emptying the fish tank in the garden instead of the sink. The bottom line? One way or another, avoid putting water down the drain when you can use it for something else.

__8. At the car wash__ Car washes are often more efficient than home washing and treat their water rather than letting it straight into the sewer system. But check to make sure that they clean and recycle the water. Better yet, try the waterless car wash. If you live in Manchester, the Levenshulme Baptist Church is recycling water from its Baptistery pool for charity car washes http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/08/baptismal_water.php.

__9. Keep your eyes open__ Report broken pipes, open hydrants, and excessive waste. Don’t be shy about pointing out leaks to your friends and family members, either. They might have tuned out the dripping sound a long time ago.

__10. Don’t spike the punch__ Water sources have to be protected. In many closed loop systems like those in cities around the Great Lakes, waste water is returned to the Lake that fresh water comes out of. Don’t pour chemicals down drains, or flush drugs down toilets; it could come back in diluted form in your water.


 * **Hard Core**

__1. Ease up on the meat__ To produce 1 kilogram of boneless beef, according to a definitive 2004 UNESCO study on the "water footprint of nations," it takes 6.5 kilograms of grain, 36 kilograms of roughage (coarse grains and pasture), and 155 litres of drinking water (Now Magazine). In The Food Revolution, John Robbins calculates that a vegetarian diet requires only 300 gallons of water per day, while a meat eating diet requires 4,000 gallons per day. You save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you do by not showering for an entire year.

__2. Get serious about greywater recovery__ Greywater recycling schemes range from large building systems to small home retrofits to simple low-tech recycling practices. TreeHugger has written about the Toilet Lid Sink which very sensibly lets you rinse your hands with the water that is filling the tank. Saves space too! The Aqus system does much the same thing but in an under-the-sink way. The Ban Beater lets you easily suck up bathwater and deliver it through a hose to your garden. As our “Weird” Eco Habits contest has elucidated, a woman in Hiroshima not only saves water, but gets her exercise while moving bathwater by bucket from the tub to the laundry. "Three rinse cycles of clean water just seems such a waste."

__3. Start with good green design__ Read Inhabitat’s Green Building 101 to see what architects can do to reduce water use. Building a house from scratch? Plumb it for greywater recovery with separate pipes from the toilets and the rest of the house. Design the roof for decent rainwater collection or incorporate green roofs, which mitigate and filter roof runoff. Put in big cisterns to hold water through the entire summer. Use permeable paving to let water soak through to the ground instead of washing away. If you or your architect is feeling like pushing the envelope, consider using a “living machine” to filter grey (or even black) water with natural plants and other organisms. And remember, if you live in the desert (California, we’re looking in your direction!), think twice before planting grass.

__4. Get involved__ In the year 2000, the United Nations established that 2.64 billion people had inadequate access to sanitation. This value represented 44 percent of the global population, but in Africa and Asia approximately half of the population had no access whatsoever to sanitation. Just a Drop reports that: “Every 10 seconds a child dies because of dirty water. 4 million children under five die terrible deaths each year due to water-born diseases. 1.1 billion children have no clean water close to their homes. Many children share the water they use to drink, cook and bathe with their livestock.” Matt Damon set up H2OAfrica after he "saw firsthand the effects of one of the largest public health issues of our time, the world water crisis which is at its worst in Africa." And the United Church of Canada has started a campaign to control the spread of bottled water.

__5. Location, location, location__ Many of us live in places where we cannot survive sustainably. You can’t live in Arizona without air conditioning and water resources that millions are trying to share. Perhaps we should be making our choices about where we live by considering the ability of the land to actually support us without artificial means. Florida's reservoirs below and above ground are badly depleted and becoming briny with saltwater seepage. The water shortage is so bad in parts of the state, despite a recent tropical storm, that people have been hauled into court and fined for violating strict water rationing standards. Some major American cities in the Southwest, including El Paso, San Antonio and Albuquerque, could go dry in 10 to 20 years.

1. Much of the world gets by on 2.5 gallons of water per day. The average American uses 400 gallons per day, 30% of which is for outdoor uses and half for watering lawns- 7 billion gallons per day. (EPA)
 * **Numbers:**

2. Worldwide, 70% of water is used for farming and most of it wasted through primitive irrigation systems that are only 40% effective (Wired). According to a 2002 article by Lester Brown, aquifers are depleting all over the world—in China by 2-3 metres per year. In the US, the Ogallala aquifer is shrinking rapidly. In India, aquifers are going down by 3 metres per year, in Mexico by 3.3 meters per year.

3. Worldwide water shortages could prove disastrous. Already, major conflicts such as Darfur have been connected to shortages of, and lack of access to, clean water. There are currently 263 rivers and countless aquifers that either cross or demarcate international political boundaries, according to the Atlas of International Freshwater Agreement, and 90 percent of countries in the world must share these water basins with at least one or two other states. For more information, Marq de Villiers on Water Wars of the Near Future.

4. Water expert Peter Gleick provides some numbers on the waste of water in American agriculture: “we use something like 1,430 gallons per capita in the United States. Only 100 gallons of that is household use per person.”

5. Unicef estimate that unsafe drinking water, inadequate availability of water for hygiene, and lack of access to sanitation together contribute to about 88 percent of deaths from diarrhea, or more than 1.5 million of the 1.9 million children under five who perish from diarrhea each year. This amounts to 18 percent of all under-five deaths and means that more than 4,000 children are dying every day as a result of diarrhoeal diseases.

6. Unicef also estimates that 11.3 billion dollars are required to provide basic levels of service for drinking and waste water in Africa and Asia. Amount spent on bottled water in the First World: $35 billion.

7. Making PET bottles for water uses up 1.5 million barrels of crude oil, enough to fuel 100,000 American cars for a year. 2.7 tons of plastic are used to bottle water. 86% become garbage or litter. (Earth Policy Institute)

http://www.city.davis.ca.us/emergency/power/tips.cfm?story=4
 * **Home Energy Savings TipsHot Water Usage**

Brushing teeth: Use a glass of water to rinse mouth.Turn off the water while brushing. Taking a shower: Turn off the water while soaping.Take shorter showers. Washing hands: Turn off the water while soaping up. Washing hair: Turn off the water while soaping up. Flushing the toilet: Don’t use the toilet to dispose of facial tissue or other objects. Getting a glass of cold water: Place a jug of water in the refrigerator. Install a toilet dam or displacement device in the toilet tank.
 * http://www.environmentandresources.ca/proj-h2o/default.asp?lang=en&n=E93A16CB
 * **Use Conservation Method**