saving water

There are many ways to save water in Your home. Here are some of the things I am doing.

Your toilet, this uses a large percentage of the water and should be looked at first. Is it a low flow model? If not, it should be. I use a 1.4 gallon toilet. Actually it uses a little less than that because it always seems to get the job done and still have water in the tank.

The old type toilet uses about 4 gallons per flush. mine uses just 1.4. thats 2 1/2 gallons saved every time its used. If You live in a house full of people, it sure would be a wise addition. Mine cost just $60 with everything i needed to install it. Say the toilet gets flushed ten times a day, thats 25 gallons less than the old unit. I believe that everyone should switch to the new model toilet immediately.

The nearest big town to Me, Alamogordo, NM has about 35,000 people. Lets say two flushes per day per person, 70,000 times… multiplied by 2.5 gallons saved thats 175,000 gallons a day thats not gone to waste.

The shower head, another item is the shower head. Mine allows about 1.5 gallons per minute flow max, it has a valve so you can even shut it off and scrub for a while. An $9 item that will save $. Since its hot water you are saving it saves gas or electric too. I bought it at WalMart for $8

If you are someone that lingers in the shower, the shower head would save hundreds of gallons per week.

Washing machine– Get the best energy efficient model available. I bought the staber 2000. It uses 16 gallons compared with 45 or so an old type washer uses. If you do ten loads a week you would save 1300 gallons per month of most likely warm or hot water. The electric bill will definately go down. The Staber also saves on detergent. Again, using Alamogordo and the 35,000 people as an example, washing 2 loads of clothes per week, thats 30,000 gallons per day saved. Most people wash more than 2 loads per week so the number is probably higher

Evaporative coolers- These can be used more effectively by running them less and at reduced speeds? How? By cooling the attic of Your house if possible. Having a black colored roof with little venting is all too common in this area. I built my house with twice the recommended venting. sucking the air in through the cooler and then venting up into to the attic cools the attic instead of the outside. The reduced attic temps will relieve the load on the cooler. Perfect. Another smart add on is a thermostat. They fit right in the box the switch goes in and will turn the cooler on and off with actual need.

Just these few actions taken would probably save 250,000 gallons of water per day. Figure that for every house had gutters and a 1500 gallon tank to supply the water for the toilets and swamp cooler (rainwater doesnt ruin the pads like tap water), figure a whole lot more water not pulled in from somewhere else.

Even if everyone had no gutters, The town of Alamogordo could set up every home with the washer, shower head, toilet, gutters and tanks for about 25 million dollars not adding for installation. I also didnt figure on the buying power of a huge order like that, I am sure there would be quite a discount.. Taxes would drop, electric bills would drop. Things would be neater and greener. No wells or streams would be hijacked for city water. Did I mention the brine water plant will produce much less and cost much more? Also, where is all the salt going to be taken to? Go figure.