How We Cut Our Water Bill in Half

[suldoz]

[LEFT]The average household uses 260 gallons of water daily. I thought that was a ridiculously high number until I started really taking a close look at where all that water goes. We took some severe steps to get our water use way down, and it opened our eyes to how much really is wasted.
Toilets
Inside the home, almost 30% is used by toilets. We just purchased toilets that have a two-flush system, one button that uses less water for liquids and another button for solids. I thought they should name the buttons #1 and #2, but instead they went with one drop of water on one and two drops on the other. And you can get a rebate on this toilet so it’s essentially free.
A more extreme route to take is not flushing liquids at all, or perhaps just at the end of the day or when company is coming!
Greywater
Another big water waster inside the home is water that runs but is not being used for anything. Like the water running while you’re waiting for it to get warm, or while brushing your teeth or washing dishes in the sink. We usually wash dishes by hand since it’s faster and quieter anyway, but nowadays it also gives us the benefit of harvesting the greywater.
In the shower we have a bucket that catches the water until it gets warm. Some people take a “Navy shower” which means get wet, turn the water off, lather up, then turn the water on and rinse off. No standing in the shower letting the water run over you just because it feels good.
These buckets of greywater from the shower or the sink can be stored in a rain barrel to use later, or just dumped on plants right away. We water all our potted plants this way, never from the hose anymore. The rain barrel by the way is also essentially free by sending in for the rebate.
Landscaping water
Most suburban homes use more water outside the home than inside. So you can see some real significant savings by reducing water to your landscaping. We water once a week and that shows us which pants are stressed by that low amount of water and which can handle it fine. For your stressed plants you have a choice of eliminating or replacing them, or dumping greywater on them in addition to the weekly watering.
We use mulch from El Carazon in Oceanside (Agriscape) to cover all unplanted areas. This keeps the ground cool, reduces runoff and slows evaporation.
And who says all the mulch on your property has to be the same? We use three mulches of different textures and colors. I’m seeing many more landscape designs using different mulches, rocks and other materials to make interesting and pleasing patterns, some totally dry and some with "islands" of un-thirsty plants. In the end, you have a landscape that uses much less water and is far more colorful than just plain green grass.
How about you? What steps are you taking these days to save water?
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