How to Conserve Water During the Drought

Cracks in your yard? Brown lawn? Wilting plants?

These are just surface indicators of severe drought conditions in our area. The more serious issue is the reduction of ground water for necessary uses including potable (drinking water). Eastern Iowa homeowner associations are reporting wells that cannot support continued water usage. 

Although we cannot change the weather, there are ways we can conserve water use in our households.  Don’t wait for a water emergency. Here are ways householders can conserve water:

Bathroom:

• Turn off the faucet while brushing your teeth.  Wet your toothbrush, turn off the water.  Brush.  Then turn on the water to rinse.
• Take shorter showers.  Turn off the water while you scrub. Save your shower water in the tub and use it to pour-flush toilets. Do not save this water longer than 24 hours.
• Put a clean bucket in the shower and save the “warm-up” water you run while waiting for the hot water.  This clean water can be used for bathing, watering garden plants.
• Toilet flushing – The water that fills your toilet tank is actually clean water.  Use it sparingly for toilet flushing. You can use “grey water” such as your bath water to flush instead of using clean water. Use a bucket to pour the grey water into the toilet bowl – not the tank. Do not save grey water longer than 24 hours.
• Replace your old toilet with a more efficient model that uses less water per flush.
• Displace the water in the toilet tank with a container such as a plastic water bottle or jar filled with water.  Be sure it does not interfere with the operation of the flush or fill mechanisms.
• Repair any leaky faucets or pipes.
• Install faucet aerators and low flow shower heads to increase velocity and decrease the amount of water used.
• Reduce the number of flushes.  Some families choose this practice: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow.  If it’s brown, flush it down.”  

I will have tips for the kitchen, laundry and outdoor water conservation in the next few blog posts. What tips do YOU have for saving water in the bathroom? Tell us at http://blogs.extension.iastate.edu/isuecofamily

Kristi Cooper
ISU Extension & Outreach Family Life Specialist, Linn County