The vast majority of water that people use each day in their homes happens in the bathroom.  In fact, about 75% of your homes water flows in and out of the bathroom.  That adds up to a very large amount of water!  Following some simple water saving techniques in the bathroom is a wonderful way to help conserve water and make an impact on protecting the environment. 

The shower uses up approximately 20% of the home’s water usage.  The typical shower that was installed before 1992 used 5 gallons of water per minute.  The Energy Policy Act changed the requirement for shower heads to limit the output of water to 2.5 gallons of water per minute. 

Today, you can purchase showerheads that use 1 gallon of water per minute.  If a family of four people who shower daily for 10 minutes each can potentially save 58,000 gallons of water per year by switching to a low-flow showerhead. 

Another innovation that is available today is a showerhead shutoff valve that is applied just above the showerhead that allows you to reduce the water flow while lathering up without losing the hot water in the pipes.

Toilets are the biggest consumers of water in the home.  They can use up to 28% of a home’s daily water usage. 

If the toilet in your home was purchases before 1994, it uses approximately 5 gallons of water per flush.  The newer toilets reduced the amount of water per flush to 1.6 gallons.  There are some ultra-low-flow toilets that only use a half gallon of water per flush.  For the average family of four who flushes the toilet 8 times per day, they could save 13,000 gallons of water per year by switching to an ultra-low-flush toilet from the standard modern toilet and up to 52,000 gallons of water compared to the older toilet purchased before 1994.

Making these simple adjustments to our bathrooms can do wonders for saving water.  If you have not yet made the switch from older showerheads or toilets, making the switch to the newer water saving models is the least we can all do to help to conserve water and protect our natural resources.