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| CONSERVATION
TIPS
Most leaks result from worn washers in household faucets and shower
heads. These fixtures should be checked periodically for even the
smallest leaks. Repairing this type of leak is as easy as replacing
the washer or ‘o' ring.
The toilet is one of the most common water wasters but its leaks
tend to be harder to notice than faucet leaks. Most toilet leaks
occur at the overflow pipe, flapper valve or at the plunger ball
inside the tank. Although you may not see or hear water running,
your toilet may have a silent leak. Drop a little food coloring
in the tank and wait approximately 15 minutes, if it appears in
the bowl, you have a silent leak. Also the water level in the tank
should come up to about a half inch or so below the overflow pipe.
For a ‘free' water conservation kit or if you have any questions
please contact our customer service department at (814) 949-2540.
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THINGS
YOU CAN DO TO CONSERVE WATER
Everyone wants to do their part to help conserve the world's natural
resources. Water is one of the most valuable. So how can we help?
Follow these steps and you'll be on your way to being a smarter
water user.
- Check every faucet in your home for leaks. Just a slow
drip can waste 15 to 20 gallons a day. Fix it and you save
almost 6,000 gallons a year.
- Don’t use your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket. Every
time you flush a cigarette butt or tissue paper you waste as much
as 7 gallons of water.
- Place food coloring in each toilet tank. Don’t flush for
several minutes to see if the color shows up in the bowl. It is
very common for these "Invisible" toilet leaks to occur
and to waste as much as 100 gallons a day.
- Put plastic bottles in your toilet tank. Put a couple
of inches of sand or pebbles in each of two plastic bottles, then
fill them with water. Place the bottles safely away from the operating
mechanism in your toilet tank. This will displace the water
and may save as much as ten gallons a day.
- The average shower uses 5 to 10 gallons of water per minute.
Soap up, wash up and rinse off. Keep it short. Your
local hardware store will have inexpensive water-saving shower
heads or restrictors that are easy to install.
- Take a bath. It only takes 6 inches of water in your
tub and it uses less water than all but the shortest shower.
- Don’t let the water run while you are brushing your teeth or
while you are shaving.
- Use automatic dish washers and clothes washers for full loads
only. Even when there are short cycles available it is more efficient
to wait until you have a full load.
- If you wash dishes by hand, do not let the water run for rinsing.
If you have two sinks fill one with soap water to wash and one
with clear water to rinse. If you only have one sink, stack
the dishes until you are done washing and rinse all of them at
one time with a spray device if available.
- Keep bottled water for drinking in the refrigerator. Running
tap water to cool it off for drinking is wasteful.
- Water your lawn only when it is needed. You can tell when your
lawn needs water by stepping on the grass. If it springs
back up when you move, it doesn’t need to be watered.
- Water your lawn and/or garden in the early morning before it
gets hot. Try to avoid watering when it is windy.
- When you water your lawn make sure you do it long enough for
the moisture to soak to the roots where it does the most good.
- Position the sprinkler so it waters only the lawn not the sidewalk
or driveway.
- Put a layer of mulch around trees and plants to slow evaporation
of moisture and to discourage weed growth.
- Use a broom, not a hose, to clean driveways and sidewalks.
- Don’t run the hose to wash your car. Use a bucket to
wash your car and the hose only to rinse it.
- Frequently inspect all pipes and fixtures in your home for
leaks. REPAIR ALL LEAKS IMMEDIATELY!
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DID
YOU KNOW?
- A leak the size of a 1/16" stream can waste nearly 74,000
gallons of water, and a leak the size of a ¼" stream
can waste nearly 1,181,500 gallons of water in one quarter.
- Only 1% of the world's water supply is available to meet all
of humanity's needs. 97% is salt water and 2% is ice.
- Every glass of water served in a restaurant requires another
two glasses of water to wash and rinse the glass.
- For the price of a 16 ounce bottle of soda, 75 cents, nearly
200 gallons of treated water are delivered to your home.
- If everyone in the United States flushed the toilet just one
less time per day, we could save enough water to fill a lake approximately
one mile long, a mile wide and four feet deep every day.
- About two thirds of the human body is water.
- Each person uses about 100 gallons of water per day at home.
- It takes more than 39,000 gallons of water to manufacture a
car.
- The five Great Lakes account for about 20% of the world's available
fresh water supply.
- Approximately one million miles of pipelines and aquaducts carry
water in the United States and Canada. That's enough to circle
the earth 40 times.
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