There are many easy and affordable ways to save water at home. With a small investment, even more water can be saved. Why save water?

If you are connected to a municipal water supply, using less means paying less. If you are using a private well, conserving water prolongs the life of your well. Either way, our planet is running out of clean water and all of us must look carefully at our water usage.

When you think about it, the water we have today is the same water that has been on our planet for millennia. That same water is constantly being recycled by the systems of nature. Unfortunately, humans have overloaded the capacity of nature to keep up with our pollution. Earth’s systems are good, but we need to be mindful of our responsibility to preserve nature rather than continue to overload it.

In addition to saving water, we must reduce the amount of harmful chemicals we release into the environment by way of our wastewater. Use only bio-degradable cleaning products and use only as much as you need.

Let’s first look at the easy and free ways to save water:

• Take showers instead of baths. A shower uses a fraction of the water compared to a bath.
• Don’t leave the water running when you are shaving. Partially fill the sink with water for rinsing your razor.
• Set the water level in your clothes washing machine to the minimum level needed to cover the load.
• Place one or two clean bricks in your toilet tank. This simulates a higher water level and helps the unit flush better, while using less water.
• Be sure the toilet is not running unnecessarily. Often the flapper or flush valve leaks and wastes water down the drain. Hundreds of gallons can be lost in a few days.
• Don’t irrigate your grass. Mow your grass a bit higher and leave the cuttings for mulch.
• Wash dishes by hand. It uses a lot less water than an automatic machine and gives the family time to work and talk together.

If you have a few dollars to invest, here are more ways to save water at home:

• Install low-flow faucet screens on all faucets and low-flow shower heads in all showers.
• Install the latest water-saving toilets. The newest ones use 1 to1.5 gallons per flush.
• Install a tankless demand water heater. Waiting for hot water to get to the faucet is wasteful.
• Install rain barrels under your gutter downspouts and use rainwater to irrigate your garden or houseplants.

A bit of research and some creative thinking will reveal many ways to conserve water and save money at the same time.