Cut your Water bill in Half with Dual Flush Toilets and other fixtures

Just installing aerators on sinks can help decrease the flows from your faucets.
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You might not know it, but on average half of your utility bill likely comes from your water heater having to constantly warm. But you don't need to call the plumber to cut your water bill in half.

Roscoe Overton was looking for a way to save money and save the earth through the purchase of his home. Not too aware of the latest green developments, it was the perfect time for his phone to ring.

“The plumber called and he said ‘hey, we have an opportunity to make a change’, and I said ‘what's that’, and he said, ‘we can get with the greenhouse’,” said Overton.

Mike Thigpen, the plumber on the other line, had found a way to install green water saving upgrades while also saving customers, like Roscoe green in the long run.

“There's only so much water on the planet, they're not making anymore and we've got to make sure there's enough to go around,” said Mike.

The first item to assess is a fast but highly effective way to cut water use yourself, just pop an aerator into each of your home's faucets.

“Automatically you cut the water usage in your sink by 50 percent,” said Mike.

Dual flush toilets can also really cut your water waste. “A standard dual flush toilet has one button for liquid waste, one for solid waste,” said Mike. Here, by treating bathroom situations different, the dual button toilet alternates between 1/2 gallon and 1 1/2 gallon flushes.

From dual flush toilets to solar water heaters, savings keeps adding up. The newest water heaters on the market could save you up to $1,200 in federal taxes, not to mention a hefty city rebate.

Mike shared,” There is a significant amount of savings because you're only heating water that you'd use rather than water that you're storing.”

That average savings is 50 to 70 percent.

Another trick you can do it yourself to limit water usage, install a low flow shower head. They’re readily available at hardware stores, just screw on the new shower head for big water savings.

“We're in a drought, you've got to save water; we're in an economic crisis, and you’ve got to save energy,” said Mike.

That savings was a big bonus for Roscoe. And he's thankful he gained awareness early enough to implement the green upgrades.