Think Water Conservation is Hard? Think Again — Tips for Saving H2O

Fresh water is possibly the earth’s most precious – yet limited — natural resource. While nearly 70 percent of the earth’s surface is covered by water, only one percent of that is available for human use and consumption. Water conservation, especially in your home, will not only help conserve water supplies, it will reduce your water and energy bills.

As the population in central Florida grows, so do the demands on water resources. High-efficiency appliances and plumbing fixtures can save up to 30 percent on water use, but there are additional ways to practice water conservation while saving energy and money.

Indoors

• Check all your appliances, plumbing, heating and cooling equipment, pipes and connections for water leaks.
• Replace older toilets with high-efficiency models, if possible. This alone can save a family of four up to 25,000 gallons of water annually.
• Replace old clothes washers with low-flow models. Washers manufactured prior to 1998 are far less efficient than new ones, using about 27 gallons of water per load vs. 15 gallons of water, respectively. You could save another 27,000 gallons of water with a new machine.
• Often something as simple as replacing a faucet washer or tightening a water hose can stop leaks.
• Turn off the water while soaping up in the shower or brushing your teeth.
• Keep a container of drinking water in the refrigerator rather than running the faucet.
• Wash only full loads of laundry or use the correct load size setting.

Outdoors

• Consider installing low-water or drought-resistant plants outdoors. Xeriscaping is a wonderful way to conserve water while establishing a visually attractive, low-maintenance landscape. Drought-resistant grasses, plants, shrubs and trees can save you more than half the water used in traditional landscaping.
• Adjust your automatic irrigation system controller monthly to account for weather changes. A rain-activated shutoff or a soil moisture or humidity sensor will help control over-watering.
• Add food scraps to a compost pile instead of the garbage disposal.

For more expert advice on water conservation and home comfort issues, please contact Rinaldi’s Energy Solutions. We’ve been providing exceptional service to the greater central Florida area since 1969.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in Orlando, Florida and surrounding areas about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about water conservation and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

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