A water wise household uses 4 HCF or
less per month, per person.
Look at your bill to see how you compare.
Take
shorter showers - 5 minutes or less
Turn
off the faucet when brushing teeth or shaving
Wash
only full loads of laundry and dishes
Install
water-efficient fixtures and appliances -
get rebates!
Don't
over water lawns - twice a week at most is enough
Promptly
repair broken sprinklers, plumbing and toilet valves
Use
a broom - not a hose - to clean driveways and pavement
Talk
to friends and neighbors and ask them to help save water
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Did you know... If
everyone in Southern California cuts outdoor watering by
JUST ONE DAY
A WEEK, we could save as much as
73 BILLION GALLONS
a year. That’s the same amount of water that Anaheim,
Burbank, Long Beach and Pasadena use in a year.
Things we can do to adapt outside water use to the natural cyclical dry
conditions as well as save money:
Consider native and
drought-tolerant plants
and grasses when making
landscape choices and adjust your watering to take advantage
of the less-thirsty plants.
Visit
www.bewaterwise.com
and use the customized watering calculator and watering index to determine how much water
your yard needs. Most people over water by as much as 50%.
Step on your grass. If it springs back when you lift your
foot, it doesn't need water. Reduce the number of days your automatic
sprinklers run during the cooler months between October and April.
Be sure to turn your automatic sprinklers off on rainy days.
Water your lawn during
the cool times of the day before 10:00 a.m. and preferably on less windy
days. Early morning is better than dusk.As much as 30 percent of water can be lost to evaporation by
watering the lawn during midday.
Less watering means less prolific growth, therefore less mowing and
fertilizer is needed.
Set lawn mower blades
one notch higher. Longer grass means less evaporation
Adjust your automatic
sprinklers so that water lands only on your lawn or garden where it
belongs and not on the sidewalk or street.
If you have an
evaporative air conditioner, direct the water drain line to a flowerbed,
tree base or lawn.
Put a layer of mulch
around trees and plants. Chunks of bark, peat moss or gravel slow
evaporation.
Consider reusing some
household water to irrigate your landscaping by using a gray water
system or by using a bucket.
Consider installing a
weather based "smart" irrigation controller
Get your irrigation
system tuned up for efficiency. When was the last time you actually
watched all the sprinklers in action? Are you sure there aren't any
geysers coming out of your front yard?
Adjust the timer on automatic sprinklers
according to seasonal water demands and weather conditions. Install a
rain shut-off device on automatic sprinklers so you're not watering when
the ground is already wet.
Check sprinkler system valves
periodically for leaks. Keep the heads in good repair.
Avoid sprinklers that spray a fine mist,
which increases evaporation.
Make sure your sprinkler is placed so it
only waters the lawn, not the pavement.
Install a drip irrigation system for
watering gardens, trees and shrubs. Drip irrigation provides a slow,
steady trickle of water to plants at their roots through a network of
pipes and hoses. The systems are regulated by a controller that can be
adjusted for different levels of watering according to the needs of the
plants. Drip irrigation systems reduce over-watering, inefficient
watering, weed growth, and the time and labor involved in hand watering.
Consider installing a pool cover to save
energy and money. As much as 70 percent of a pool's heat loss is caused
by evaporation.
It also will keep your pool or spa cleaner and reduce the need to add
chemicals.
You can save substantially by reducing
your pool's water temperature and the number of months you heat your
pool.
Keep your pool's cleaning and heating
equipment clean and lubricated to make it as efficient as possible.
Switch your pool filter and sweeper
operations to off-peak hours - hours other than hot summer afternoons,
when electricity use is high and prices increase. If you have a
time-of-use meter, this can save you money. Off-peak hours are between 6
p.m. and noon weekdays and all day Saturday and Sunday.
Shorten the operating time for your
swimming pool filter and- if your pool has one - your automatic cleaning
sweep. In the winter, two hours a day of filtering could cut your
filter's energy use by 40 percent to 50 percent, yet keep your pool
clean.
Take shorter showers -
cut your shower time by 2 minutes and save 5 gallons every time you
shower
A typical bathroom
faucet uses 6 gallons per minute. Turn off your faucet while
brushing your teeth or shaving.
Fix faucet leaks- a
steady dripping leak wastes 15-20 gallons per minute.
Check your water meter
to see if there are any leaks. If it's spinning and there's no water
being used, there is probably an undetected leak somewhere.
While waiting for the
shower to warm up, catch the cold water in a container to use on outside
plants.
When washing dishes by
hand - if you have two sinks fill one with rinse water, if
you only have one sink, use a spray device or short blasts instead of
letting the water run.
Use the garbage
disposal less and garbage can more.
Don't use your toilets
as a wastepaper basket.
Run only full loads in
the washing machine and dishwasher. If you only have a few dishes, it's
better to wash them in the sink.
Replace your older
toilet with a High Efficiency Toilet (HET) that flushes 1.28 gpf.
PWP offers rebates for qualifying HETs.
Click here for more details.
Select a
high-efficiency clothes washer when replacing your old machine, PWP
offers rebates for qualifying models.
Click here for more details.
Check to see if your
toilets are leaking. Put some food coloring in the tank and see if it
enters the bowl without flushing. If it does, try replacing the flapper.
Install a new
water-efficient showerhead. It saves water and energy costs to heat the
water.
If your automatic
water softener recharges using a time clock, be sure it isn’t recharging
too frequently and remember to turn it off when you go away for a few
days.
Periodically check your toilets operation to catch
problems with valve adjustment or worn equipment. A helpful
six (6) page text and graphically illustrated manual is available in
the Adobe PDF format . If your browser is not equipped to
view PDF files,
Get Acrobat Now to download a free copy.
Use a broom on
driveways, sidewalks and patios instead of washing them down with a hose
- save as much as 150 gallons per use.
When taking your car
to a car wash, be sure it's one that recycles its wash water. If you
wash your car at home, don't leave the hose running - use a nozzle with
an automatic shut off and save 10 gallons per minute.
When staying at a hotel or motel, indicate
to
housekeeping that you
prefer to keep your linens and towels for multiple nights, and that when
you do need laundry service, you will call housekeeping.
Take a look at how
water is used at your workplace and consider suggesting some of these
same ideas to management.
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