Fix Your Leaks With Help From Broomfield Public Works Dept.

From The City and County of Broomfield: Are you ready to chase down leaks? Household leaks can waste nearly 1 trillion gallons of water annually nationwide, so each year we hunt down the drips during Fix a Leak Week. Mark your calendars for EPA's annual Fix a Leak Week, March 18 through 24, 2019, but remember that you can find and fix leaks inside and outside your home to save valuable water and money all year long.

From family fun runs to leak detection contests to WaterSense demonstrations, Fix a Leak Week events happen from coast to coast and are all geared to teach you how to find and fix household leaks.

The average household's leaks can account for more than 10,000 gallons of water wasted every year and ten percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day. Common types of leaks found in the home are worn toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and other leaking valves. These types of leaks are often easy to fix, requiring only a few tools and hardware that can pay for themselves in water savings. Fixing easily corrected household water leaks can save homeowners about 10 percent on their water bills.

To check for leaks in your home, you first need to determine whether you're wasting water and then identify the source of the leak. Here are some tips for finding leaks:

• Take a look at your water usage during a colder month, such as January or February. If a family of four exceeds 12,000 gallons per month, there are serious leaks.
• Check your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter changes at all, you probably have a leak.
• Identify toilet leaks by placing a drop of food coloring in the toilet tank. If any color shows up in the bowl after 10 minutes, you have a leak. (Be sure to flush immediately after the experiment to avoid staining the tank.)
• Examine faucet gaskets and pipe fittings for any water on the outside of the pipe to check for surface leaks.
• WaterSense partners have guides and videos that you might find helpful in finding and fixing leaks.

Learn how to find and fix leaks during Fix a Leak Week. It's as easy as 1-2-3.

1. Check

First, use this checklist to check your home for leaks. Visit the EPA website for do-it-yourself repair tips or contact a plumbing professional.

2. Twist

Apply pipe tape to be sure plumbing fixture connections are sealed tight and give leaking faucets and showerheads a firm twist with a wrench. For additional savings, twist a WaterSense®-labeled aerator onto each bathroom faucet to save water without noticing a difference in flow. Faucet aerators are inexpensive and can save a household more than 500 gallons each year--the amount of water it takes to shower 180 times!

3. Replace

If you just can't nip that drip, it may be time to replace the fixture. Look for WaterSense® labeled models, which use at least 20 percent less water and are independently certified to perform as well or better than standard plumbing fixtures. Replacing an old, inefficient showerhead with a WaterSense®-labeled model will shrink your household's water footprint by 2,900 gallons annually while still letting you shower with power. With less water passing through, WaterSense® showerheads can also save enough energy to power a television for a year!

Broomfield offers $75 rebates for installation of 1.28 gallon per flush (or less) WaterSense®-labeled toilets, up to three toilets per residence. There is also a rebate of up to $100 for WaterSense®-labeled weather-based irrigation controllers. For full details on these rebate offers, visit Broomfield's website.

Not inclined to DIY? Broomfield has contracted with Resource Central to provide indoor and irrigation water assessments for Broomfield residents free of charge. Visit Resource Central's website to schedule an appointment!

Check out more "Fix a Leak Week" information.