Ways to conserve water

Though the majority of planet earth is water (look at a map and you can clearly see how many bodies of waters there are!), only 3% of it can be used as drinking water. Let’s do something now to ensure this lasts us!

  • Shorten your showers to less than 10 minutes. Already doing it in less than 10 minutes? Make it 7.
  • Turn off the water while you're brushing your teeth, shaving, or washing your face.
  • Leaky faucet or shower head? A dripping faucet can waste up to 2,000 gallons/7,600 liters of water a year. Check the plumbing in your house and repair the leaks as soon as possible.
  • Ask your parents if they’d like to invest in low-flush toilets, shower heads and faucet aerators. You’ll save thousands of gallons of water each year and your parents’ water bill will be lower!
  • Call your water utility company and ask for a copy of their latest water quality report. Public water utilities regularly test the quality of the drinking water they provide to customers.
  • Reduce your use of pesticides and fertilizers, and look for safer alternatives to control weeds and bugs. Lawn and garden pesticides and fertilizers can pollute the water. Some alternatives are geraniums to repel Japanese beetles; garlic and mint to repel aphids; and marigolds to repel whiteflies.
  • To make the most of the water you use outdoors, never water your lawn at the hottest time of day (usually in the early to mid-afternoon)or when it's windy. Turnoff your sprinklers when it’s raining. On average, 50% - 70% of household water is used outdoors for watering lawns and gardens.
  • Have a garden? Use mulch. It helps to conserve water by holding moisture in the earth longer.

Sources:

American Water and Energy Savers

Earth Easy

Water Use it Wisely


Take Action

  1. Let us know if you're going to do this...
    If you aren't logged into dosomething.org, you have to enter your email address before clicking this.
  2. Email a friend about this idea.
  3. Find more info on this cause.

    4. Water Conservation: By 2025, 2/3 of the world’s population – or 5.3 billion people – will suffer from water shortages.

Comments

You must Login or Register to post comments or replies.

hokage0kitt says:
 

I think we should all try to do this :]
I usually take like.. 40 min showers v.v"
for now on, im gonna try 10 min ones :D

 
craiggarnier says:
 

My way to conserve water is to take short shower's
in the morning of 5 minutes. In addition, when I prepare vegetables for meals, I fill a small container with water and wash all vegetables in this container. Finally, when I apply lawn fertilizer,
I put it down and let mother nature water the lawn.

 
theduck says:
 

i take ten-15 minute showers on weekdays cos i have to hurry up n get ready for school... but one weekend i normally take about half an hour showers n use up all the hot water n get yelled at. :) so if i take shorter showers i'll get yelled at less... and miss the bus less.

 
theduck says:
 

oh... n we usually only water the lawn when its the middle of summer and looks like its going to die. its about 45% weed anyway