Stop flushing savings down the drain. Save water, money with WaterSense

Kevin Ridley
Kevin Ridley

Staff Writer

Jul 30, 2019

WaterSense labeled products can cut your water bill and provide water savings results

It’s the hottest time of the year. Not only are you suffering from the sweltering heat, but you may be feeling it on your water bill as well. WaterSense, an EPA program designed to encourage water efficiency through the use of a special label on products, suggests ways you can prevent your bill from burning a hole in your wallet.

watersense-logo.jpgWhether you’re replacing an older product or simply looking for ways to reduce water in your home, try using WaterSense labeled products. What does the label mean? According to WaterSense, these labeled products meet EPA’s specifications for water efficiency and performance.

Products bearing the WaterSense label:

  • Perform as well or better than their less efficient counterparts
  • Are 20 percent more water efficient than average products in that category
  • Provide measurable water savings results

Toilets

According to WaterSense, toilets are the main source of water use in the home, accounting for nearly 30 percent of an average home’s indoor water consumption. By replacing old, inefficient toilets with WaterSense labeled models, the average family can reduce water used for toilets by 20 to 60 percent. They could also keep you from flushing away more than $110 per year in water costs. That’s $2,200 over the lifetime of the toilet.

ToiletsTip: Fill an empty 2 liter bottle with sand and place it inside the tank. This will reduce your flushes by 2 liters each time.

 

Showerheads

Showering accounts for 20 percent of residential water use, according to WaterSense. By modernizing your showerhead with WaterSense labeled products, you can save up to 2,700 gallons of water per year. That’s about the same amount of water it would take to fill up 33 average-sized bathtubs.

Watersense

Irrigation Controllers

Trying to keep up your lawn during the dog days of summer? Well, you may actually be doing more wasting than watering. WaterSense says experts estimate that as much as 50 percent of residential outdoor water use is wasted due to overwatering caused by inefficiencies in irrigation methods and systems.

Replacing a standard clock timer with a WaterSense labeled irrigation controller can save an average home nearly 7,600 gallons of water annually. You’d use about that much water if you left your bathroom faucet running for 57 hours straight.

Tip: Try these different lawn approaches that can reduce water as well.

Irrigations controller

Bathroom Faucets

Most people know you can save water by turning off the tap while brushing your teeth (as much as 3,000 gallons per year), but you may not know there are products that will help save water while your faucet is on.

Replacing old faucets and aerators with WaterSense labeled models can save the average family 700 gallons of water per year. That’s the same as roughly 45 showers!

Sink

Dishwashers

Tip: Using Cascade’s (and others) platinum dishwasher tablets, eliminates the need to pre-wash your dishes. This saves you time and money. Cascade Platinum ActionPacs™ clean 24-hour stuck-on food so well, they enable consumers to skip the pre-wash. This can save up to 15 gallons of water per dishwasher load. When multiplied by all users that pre-wash, this can save up to 150 billion gallons of water each year!

Before purchasing your next water saving product, visit WaterSense for more information or for a list of WaterSense products.