Good to the last drop!

Have you ever thought about how much water you use in a day or week or month?  My Master Gardener class heard a speaker with eye-opening information.  Lately I've been thinking about that presentation and doing some additional research.

Flickr photo by Janet Ramsden

An interesting article on the UT website states that water usage currently averages 100 gallons/person/day.  I was surprised to read how much higher the average usage is in the US than in other countries.  

Using this figure and information from the 2013 Census website, I ran some numbers and was amazed at the totals.  We can debate how much water is used per person per day, but I imagine that if we actually measured our water usage, it would be a close estimation.

Were you as shocked as I was at these numbers?  I think just having done the math has opened my mind to the fact that I need to put forth more effort in water conservation.  I laid out where I use water in my home.  Not only do the people/animals in my home consume water, there is the dishwasher, washing machine, shower and toilet.

There are many hacks online to help you with your water conservation without having to replace all your appliances at once.  Your own research will help you find ones that work for you.  Here are some of mine:

• Install low flow faucets, especially shower heads 
• Make a plan to make sure appliances are replaced with energy & water efficient ones
• Repair leaking fixtures immediately.  One article estimates that leaks can add up to 21 gallons per day.  Don't let that leaky faucet go one more day!  How much is that procrastination costing you and the environment?  It may be as simple as replacing a gasket.  But even replacing a faucet will be cost effective since that 21 gallons per day adds up to 147 gallons per week.
• Adding additional rain barrels to the one I already have (more to come on this subject :) 
• Letting Mother Nature wash my car
• Adding ball valves to the ends of my hoses so I can shut water off at both ends of the hose as needed 

I am going to step up my water conservation game - not only in my home but also by educating others on its importance.

Water is good to the last drop...

lets make sure that last drop is many years from now!

 Dawn B.
TEMG'13