Water Saving Tips for Toilets, Faucets, and Shower Heads

Style and Comfort is not the only thing that has grown with the development of the modern bathroom. Water saving products have started to flourish as well. With an ever increasing population, putting stress on our limited supply of fresh water. Water conservation is more important than ever. The average household's bathroom uses 65 percent of the home's total water usage. Bathroom fixtures like low flow shower heads, low flow faucets and low flow toilets significantly decrease water consumption. Modernization of the toilet has brought about some new environmentally friendly changes. Today's emphasis on being more green has brought water conservation to forefront of toilet design. The first 1.6 gallon per flush low flow toilet appeared on the scene in mid 90s. Unfortunately these toilets were very faulty. So faulty that many people claim they had to flush twice to remove all the waist. Which meant the toilet supposed low flow toilet was now using 3.2 gallons per flush, which is very far from water conserving. Toilet manufacturers knew they had to start developing fully functional low flow toilets. Within time many manufacturers had their own version of a fully functional low flow toilet . Performance improvements over the years make these low flow products make it hard to distinguish them from their dated water guzzling counterparts.Just by upgrading your regular toilet to a dual flush toilet you can save your home over 4,000 gallons of water per year.


When we leave a faucet running, every minute that goes by, between 1 to 2.5 gallons is going down the drain of between. Every time we leave Water one of the most heavily abused resources. Water belongs to everyone, not only those whom pay for it or can pay for it. "Leaving the tap running while we brush our teeth wastes almost five gallons of water. A good way to save water is to wet the toothbrush and rinse, plus get a glass of water for rinsing teeth. This good habit will we save about 5 gallons of water. "When we take showers, the average person washes about sixty gallons down the drain. Therefore it is best to keep showers restricted to a limited time. In general, showers consume about thirty percent of the household's water. For example, a shower head spends about 3 gallons of water per minute, there are shower heads now available that are low flow and cut this water usage in half. To test how much water your shower head uses place a large container, preferably something in the five gallon range, catching all the water that the shower ex-spells. Let the shower water fill up the container for exactly one minute. Now measure how much water is in the container. This will tell you the gallons (GPM) per minute of your shower head. The same type of method can be applied to your faucets. Updating these small fixtures can be rather inexpensive and can save a great deal of money on water bill. Making slight changed and improvements in your daily water usage will have a huge impact on water conservation.

Toilet Tales from our Favorite Celebrities

1. Lenny Kravitz: Music star Lenny Kravitz's toilet caused almost 1 million dollars in damages. Starting in October 2004, Lenny Kravitz has been in the center of various lawsuits from neighbors living below the rock star. These lawsuits totaling close to eight thousand dollars worth of damage were caused by Kravitz's blocked toilet, which leaked into the dwellers apartments below the rock star.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio: Environmentally friendly Leo went purchased himself a (no not a Prius), a toilet. Leo spent over three thousand dollar on the Eco-friendly, high tech Neorest toilet. The Neorest toilet is tank-less, and features front and rear warm water washing, and a sensor activated air dryer. This throne is also equipped with a remote that controls water temperature as well as other options. Very cool purchase. The flush is only 1.6 gallons per flush.



3. George Michael: George Michael has been busted twice in the bathroom. The first time he was caught was in 1998 in Beverly Hills for lewd conduct. Eleven years later George was caught with illegal drugs in a London public bathroom.

4. Miley Cyrus and Barbra Walters: The adolescent superstar Miley is gifted at everything—including gift giving. In March 2008 Miley gave Barbra Walters a toilet made of gold. The golden toilet was unfortunately not life sized.

5. Dave Matthews Band: According to reports in 2004, while driving over a bridge a tour bus allegedly carrying the members of the band Dave Matthews Band dumped its septic waste into the Chicago river . The human waste dropped all over the tourist on a boat below. A lawsuit has been filed by the city of Chicago for polluting the water.


6. Larry Craig: The senator from Idaho was arrested in a sting operation by an undercover cop. According to the police reports Craig was tapping his foot in a way that is commonly known to signal a desire to engage sexual conduct in a public restroom. When confronted by the policeman Larry insisted he had a, "wide stance."

7. Enrique Iglesias: The pop star admits to suffering stage fright. He does not get scared on stage in front of millions of adoring fans, he gets bladder shy when he is in a public restroom. He claims that he avoids crowded toilets.

8. Miley Cyrus: It's Miley again. Before becoming an amazing singer and actress. During an interview Miley claimed that one of her first jobs was with a cleaning company. One of the tasks performed by the multi-millionaire, was cleaning toilets. She claimed on the Tyra Banks Show, that she can scrub a toilet with the best of them.

9. Cameron Diaz: In a May 19 2009 interview on the Jay Leno show, Cameron Diaz another environmentally friendly mega star shared her Eco bathroom routine with the world. Diaz lives by the motto, "if it's yellow leave it mellow, if it's brown flush it down."

10. Lily Allen: In April 2008 British singer Lily Allen joined her male friends in the men’s room at the Royal Albert Hall in London. She was immediately escorted out by the club's security.

RUNNING OUT OF WATER?

RUNNING OUT OF WATER?



Media Credit: Mills Campanil

In the face of a statewide drought and mandatory water rationing, Mills is stepping up to reduce water use on campus.

The board of the East Bay Municipal Utility District (East Bay MUD) declared its water conservation program after two consecutive dry years reduced the district reservoir to dangerously low levels, according to a May 13 San Francisco Chronicle article.

"Water is the new oil," said Barb Haber, the interim associate vice president of Campus Planning and Facilities. "We desperately need to conserve it, or it will be gone."

East Bay MUD intends to cut all water use by 15 percent, according to their website. However, they give individual residences a specific reduction goal.

In August, all residences that get water from East Bay MUD received a letter that listed their water allotment. This allowance is based on the amount of water the customer used in each two-month billing period over the last three years.

If residences exceed the amount of water they are allowed to use, East Bay MUD charges a fee, which includes a two-dollar surcharge for every 748 gallons of extra water the residence used.

Haber said that she does not know how much water Mills is currently using, but did say that campus residence halls are not meeting the required reductions.

In order to raise awareness about rationing, Mills posted flyers that featured tips on how to reduce personal water use in several residential halls.

Staff also put up stickers that say "Thank you for not wasting water" on campus bathroom mirrors and shower stalls.

"Maybe if the student sees it, they'll think twice about leaving the water running while they're brushing their teeth," Haber said.

Some students have taken up the cause. Last November, Earth CORPS, an environmental group on campus, teamed up with Bon Appetit to remove the trays from Founders Commons and thus reduce the amount of water needed to rinse them.

Sophomore Magee Page, the president of Earth CORPS, said that they were inspired by the University of Arkansas, which went trayless last August, and saved 200,000 gallons of water because of it.

Mills students used 192 trays during an average weekday lunch, and the dishwasher must be run 24 times to clean all the trays, according to the October edition of the Mills Sustainability Newsletter.

Bon Appetit began by removing the trays every Wednesday. Earth CORPS members advertised their cause by standing in front of Founder's steps with a billboard. The billboard was made out of two trays and said, "Go a day without a tray."

They collected signatures from 240 students who pledged to go trayless, according to Page. The Sustainability Newsletter reported 181 signatures.

By the week before fall finals, the trays were permanently removed.

The College is also taking a technological approach to water conservation.

On Wed. Jan. 21, staff members conducted an inventory of all dormitory showerheads. Any showerhead that is not a low-flow model will be replaced with water-saving ones equipped with an aerator, according to a student-news post Ruth Sears placed.

Haber said an aerator injects the water with oxygen so that the water feels fuller even though less water is released.

She added that most people don't know the difference between the shower heads. "They'll both allow you to get the soap out of your hair," she said.

While a regular showerhead uses 42 gallons of water in a 10-minute shower the low-flow model uses only 10 gallons in the same amount of time, according to Sears's post.

Currently, only half of the residence hall showerheads are low-flow, but Haber hopes these will be replaced soon.

She said she also wanted to put aerators on Mills sinks, but the sinks are too old to support them.

The Life Sciences Building also houses a water-conserving feature. The toilets are duo flush, so people can choose a full flush or half-flush, which saves water.

Haber said that if any toilets need to be replaced in the future and the building space allows it, Mills will install dual flush toilets.

Even equipment maintenance makes a difference in water use, Haber said. She explained that just wasting small amounts of water adds up over time.

According to the East Bay MUD website, a leaky toilet can waste up to 7,000 gallons of water per month.

A faucet leaking a steady drip, which is about 100 drops per minute, wastes 350 gallons of water per month. A small stream wastes 2,000 to 2,700 gallons per month.

According to an Oct. 2 ABC Local article, East Bay MUD customers have cut water usage by 11.3 percent as of October 2008, but this is short of the company's 15 percent water reduction goal.

For more information on water rationing and the California drought, visit http://ebmud.com/drought/default.html.

TIPS FOR CONSERVING WATER
1. Always make sure to turn off the faucet properly. If it still drips, take out a work order and have the faucet fixed.

2. Instead of using running water, fill the sink with water when you are washing dishes or rinsing fruit and vegetables.

3. Put a gallon jug under the faucet when you are trying to heat running water in the sink or tub. You can then use this water for other things around the house.

4. Don't walk away while water is warming up. You may not get back to it before hot water is wasted.

5. While brushing your teeth, turn off the tap. Rinse using a cup for water; run the tap only to rinse the toothbrush.

6. When showering, wet your body first and then turn off the water. Apply soap, and then turn on the water to rinse.

Source: East Bay MUD website

Average person uses fifty gallons of water per day

Be aware of how much water you use! Awareness is the first step in conservation. The average person uses fifty gallons of water per day on the following activities:

· Toilet - 19 gallons per day
· Bathing & hygiene - 15 gallons per day
· Laundry - eight gallons per day
· Kitchen - seven gallons per day
· Housekeeping - one gallon per day

TOTAL 50 GALLONS

You can determine your average daily water use by using one of the following two methods.

Metered Water

If your water use is metered, review your water bill. Divide your water usage by the number of days in the billing period and also by the number of residents of your household. If your water is measured in cubic feet, convert to gallons by multiplying by 7.48.

Unmetered Water

If your water use is not metered, you must determine your water use for each fixture. Flow rates for showers and faucets can be measured by using a container and watch to measure the amount of water discharged through the fitting in a minute. Toilet use per flush can be approximated by measuring the volume of water inside the toilet tank (width x length x height) and dividing by 231. (There are 231 cubic inches in a gallon of water.) After you have determined the water use of each fixture, you will need to record the number of uses and the length of time each fixture is used to determine your average daily water use. Remember to estimate the amount of water used by appliances such as clothes washers and dishwashers as well as home water treatment systems.

Water-saving devices are economical and permanent. Low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators save valuable water and energy used to heat water without requiring changes in personal water use habits. Dual flush toilets are also a great way to conserve water.