• Wash only full loads in your dishwasher: It takes almost the same amount of water to wash a half load of dishes as it does to wash a full load. Washing a half load wastes water, energy and money!
• Use the minimum amount of detergent needed to wash dishes: Less soap on dishes requires less water used to rinse your dishes—and you’ll also save soap!
• Thaw frozen food in the refrigerator: Thawing food by running under water is wasteful.
• Check for leaking pipes and faucets: Small leaks that are not repaired immediately can waste over 50 gallons of water a day or 2,500 gallons per year. Larger leaks can waste hundreds of gallons of water per day.
• Keep a pitcher of water in the refrigerator: This ends the wasteful practice of running tap water to cool it off for drinking.
• Scrape dishes clean instead of running them under the faucet: Think of the amount of water that will be saved by this small change in your cleaning habits.
• Clean vegetables by washing them in a bowl of water: Rinse vegetables in a bowl of water and then reuse the water on your plants.
• Use a sponge mop instead of a string mop: Sponge mops use less water than string mops and require less water in the pail.

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• Check for toilet tank leaks: Place a few drops of food coloring in your toilet tank. If you see the food coloring seep into the bowl, you have a leak that should be repaired immediately. A leaking toilet can waste up to 21,000 gallons of water per year.
• Don’t use the toilet as a waste paper basket: Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tissue or other small bit of trash, you waste as much as seven gallons of water. Only flush it when necessary.
• Install low-flow shower heads: Low-flow shower heads can save up to eight gallons of water each minute the shower is used, or 4,800 gallons per person per year!
• Take shorter showers: Try limiting your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off. Better yet, turn the water off while you lather up, shampoo your hair or shave. Long, hot showers can waste up to ten gallons of water every unneeded minute.
• Rinse your razor in the sink: Before shaving, put a small amount of water in the sink for rinsing. This uses considerably less water than rinsing your razor under a running faucet.
• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth: Wet your brush before cleaning your teeth. Then have a glass of water ready in which to rinse your brush.
• Take a half bath: An average tub holds 40 gallons of water. By filling the tub only halfway, you can save as much as 7,300 gallons of water per person per year.
• Change older toilets with new low-flow models. Low-flow toilets use water more efficiently.
• Don’t waste cool water, while waiting for hot water to arrive: When waiting for the hot water to arrive for a shower or dishes, use the cooler water to water plants or for other uses that are not sensitive to temperature.

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• Wash only full loads in your washing machine: It takes almost the same amount of water to wash a half load of clothes as it does to wash a full load. Remember to use the load selector to match water level to load size, whenever possible. Washing a half load wastes water, energy and money!

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