Go Green For St. Patrick’s Day

Going green is pretty easy when it comes to your home’s plumbing. New products, system advancements and simple fixes can help you go green by reducing your environmental impact…and save you money!

>>Fix that leaky faucet!

This week is the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Fix A Leak Week. Household leaks are common and have a huge impact on the environment. In fact, fixing easily corrected household water leaks can save homeowners about 10 percent on their water bills:

• The average household’s leaks can account for more than 10,000 gallons of water wasted every year, or the amount of water needed to wash 270 loads of laundry
• Household leaks can waste more than 1 trillion gallons annually nationwide. That’s equal to the annual household water use of more than 11 million homes.
• Ten percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day.

>>Install a point of use filter on your kitchen sink!
Bottled water is costly – and wasteful! The Water Project points out:

• Bottles used to package water take over 1,000 years t o bio-degrade and if incinerated, they produce toxic fumes. It is estimated that over 80% of all single-use water bottles used in the U.S. simply become “litter.”
• U.S. landfills are overflowing with 2 million tons of discarded water bottles alone.
  It is estimated that 3 liters of water is used to package 1 liter of bottled water.

Cut down on your reliance on plastic water bottles. Install a point of use filter on your kitchen sink, purchase a reusable water bottle, and make a positive change (for the environment and your wallet!).

>>Cut down on water waste in your bathroom!
Did you know that you use more water in your bathroom than all of your other rooms combined? You can cut down on this waste with a low-flow toilet and showerhead!

• Flushing your toilet uses more water than anything else in your home. Older conventional toilets use anywhere from 4 to 7 gallons of water per flush, while a low-flow toilet uses less than 2! With the average member of your family flushing 5 times each day, those saved gallons can really add up!
• Shortening your daily shower by one minute will save 550 gallons of water a year, while switching your showerhead to a low-flow model can save you 2,900 gallons per year!

Go green by going low-flow!