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Reduce your shower time by 5 minutes

When showering with a 4.5 gallon per minute showerhead, you use 45 gallons of water every ten minutes. To save water, shorten your showers or turn off the water when you’re lathering up, shaving, or washing your hair. Be conscious of the time you take in the shower by using a shower clock, and try to reduce your shower by 10-20%. Click to calculate how much water and energy you use in the shower.

Fix leaks and drips. Keep water pipes, faucets, and toilet gasket seals in good condition

Small leaks in water pipes throughout your home can often go undetected, while a dripping faucet or moisture around the base of a toilet may be noticed but ignored. While the leaks may appear minor, they can waste a lot of water. The average household wastes 10,000 gallons of water per year due to leaks. If you find a leak, fix it right away. Pay attention for the sound of dripping or for your toilet running longer than normal. You can easily check your home for leaks by shutting off all water usage in your home for an hour then checking to see if your water meter moves. Check out these tips on fixing leaks.

Reduce toilet water use. Use a high-efficiency/dual flush toilet, composting toilet, or low-flow toilet conversion kit

Toilets use more water than any other device in your home – about 30% of all your indoor water consumption. When replacing a toilet, consider purchasing a 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf) toilet, high-efficiency toilet (HET) that uses 1.28 gpf, or a dual flush toilet. Dual-flush toilets allow for 2 options when flushing: half-tank or full 1.6 gallon flush. Upgrading to a WaterSense labeled toilet can save 4,000 gallons per year.

For a lower cost, try installing a dual flush conversion kit, “tank bank,” “toilet dam,” “float booster,” or even a do-it-yourself sealed bottle of pebbles or sand in your toilet tank. To learn more, watch this toilet tank bank product review video.

Alternatives to flushing toilets which avoid the use of water completely include composting toilets and dry toilets. Learn more about flushing toilet alternatives, or check out this article about a human waste composting project.

Use a watering can or a shut-off nozzle on your hoses

During just 10 minutes of washing a car or watering plants, a standard hose uses about 100 gallons. Using an automatic shutoff nozzle on your garden hose or filling up a watering can saves the water that would otherwise be wasted when the hose is not actually in use or aimed at your desired target.

Avoid mid-day watering of your lawn and gardens

If the garden or lawn receives water at mid-day, when the temperature is highest, some of the water will evaporate from the wet soil and plants before it has the chance to soak into the ground. Watering in the early morning provides plants with water at their most active period of transpiration, when they are taking up the most water through their roots. It also allows them to dry off before the cool night temperatures set in, reducing the chance of disease. Learn more about when to water.

Use a broom, rather than a hose or leaf blower, to clean sidewalks, driveways, patios, and other impermeable surfaces

Running a standard hose for just 10 minutes uses 100 gallons of water. Make sure to pick up any swept-up waste and put it in a trash can or compost pile, not the gutter or storm drain. Sweeping the waste into the gutter only adds to the pollution in the Chesapeake Bay. Remember, “Only rain down the drain!”