If you have well water and summer droughts, then you’re aware of how difficult it can be to have enough water available for household use.
You can also save water if you are connected to a public water supply. There are many ways to reduce your water usage and save money on your monthly water bill.
Conserving water has many environmental benefits, including reducing the strain on local water sources, such as rivers and lakes, and lowering energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with water treatment and distribution. Additionally, saving water helps to preserve aquatic ecosystems and wildlife habitats.
Sustainable water usage helps to lower energy use and greenhouse gas emissions associated with water treatment and distribution. It's an essential part of maintaining an eco friendly homestead.
By implementing water-saving practices in your home, you can help to protect the environment and conserve this valuable resource for future generations.
In this article, we will provide tips and tricks for conserving water in your home.
With low-flow aerators and efficient water fixtures, households can save around 700 gallons of water each year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
average water savings: 58 gallons/month
While I’m a fan of working with what you have and not buying new things when you don’t need them, new washing machines are much more water efficient when compared to older models.
A front-loading high efficiency washing machine could wash your clothes with as little as 10 gallons of water (source). Models from 20-30 years ago used 40-45 gallons, so the switch could save you 30 gallons per load of laundry (source).
You might be able to find hardly used water-efficient washing machines on craigslist to save money and be more sustainable.
When we updated our washing machine, we purchased it lightly used from craigslist, and then donated our old model to a family in need.
average water savings: 360 gallons/month @ 3 loads/ week
Wearing clothes multiple times before washing them is a simple way to reduce water usage in your home. To make this easier, you can create a designated spot to hang lightly-worn clothes, or use a laundry basket with two compartments.
Wearing good deodorant helps out with this!
I also save infrequently-needed items that are in the laundry pile to wash in the autumn, when the rains replenish our well tank.
average water savings: 40 gallons/month if you have an efficient washer and reduce washing by 1 load/week
Taking fewer showers or taking speedy showers can significantly reduce your daily water usage. Make it a game to see how fast you can shower, and perhaps turn off the water while shaving, sudsing up, or adding conditioner and shampoo to your hair.
The average shower in the United States is around 8 minutes long and uses just under 16 gallons of water (source).
average water savings: 192 gallons/month per person, if showering 4x/week instead of 7
Hand washing dishes can go through as much as 5 times the water as an efficient dish washer, even for amounts less than a full load of dishes (source). You save around 19 gallons of water each time you run the dishwasher on a full load instead of washing by hand (source).
Of course, there are ways to make hand washing more water-wise, such as turning off the water when sudsing and scrubbing dishes and pots, using a rinse bucket for small items and cutlery, and generally using the water as little as possible.
I also make it a game to see how little water I can use when loading up the dishwasher. I make sure dishes are free from debris, but reuse water when rinsing out dishes.
average water savings: 570 gallons/month , if using a dishwasher daily instead of washing dishes by hand daily
If you put dirty dishes in the sink, throughout the course of the day as you wash your hands or use water for other things, let the used water fill up the dirty dishes. In this way, it will be easier to remove crusted on food when it’s time to load up the dish washer, and you’ll use less water while you’re at it.
average water savings: 100 gallons/month, by my unscientific estimate
I notice that I can skip running the dish washer 2-3 times per week by planning a meal around what dishes are clean or easy to quickly wash by hand.
Newer dishwashers only go through 3 gallons of water per cycle, but I based the average water savings on older models.
average water savings: 120 gallons/month, if you wash dishes 4x/week instead of 7
If you are singing happy birthday while sudsing up your hands and letting the water run, you use around 1 gallon of water during that time before rinsing. If you turn the water off during that time, of course, you save 1 gallon of water. If you wash your hands 9 times a day (which is average in the States), you save around 270 gallons a month with this technique. As a homesteader, between gardening and shoveling manure, you probably wash your hands more than that, though.
average water savings: 270 gallons/month, per person, by estimate
This one depends on what you’re up to in the kitchen. If you have a lot of produce from an abundant harvest day that you’re washing for canning or preserving, then a bowl probably is the way to go. I use a bowl when washing big harvests of items that I’m about to freeze or preserve.
If you’re just washing a couple of things, then a bowl is probably not more efficient.
average water savings: 40 gallons/month
Obviously this is a personal choice but if you only flush twice a day vs. 6 times a day you can save around 48 gallons of water a day (source). Swap out your flusher for a composting toilet for even more water savings.
average water savings: 1440/month per person!!!
Our well has a 1500 gallon capacity, so if we didn’t do these things during the summer, when no water was available for the well to pump up, we’d need to haul water to fill up our tank more than twice a month to make up that difference.
In order to provide water for our garden during the dry months, we implement practices to be as water-efficient as possible and use rain barrels - learn more about water wise gardening techniques in our guide here.
