WATER CONSERVATION TIPS FOR INDOORS

Check your toilet for leaks.
A leak in your toilet may be wasting more than 100 gallons of water a day. To check, put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing, the coloring begins to appear in the bowl, you have a leak. Adjust or replace the flush valve or call a plumber.

Stop using your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket.
Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tissue or other small bit of trash down the toilet, you waste five to seven gallons of water.

Put a plastic bottle in your toilet tank.
Your toilet can probably flush just as efficiently with less water than it now uses. To cut down water waste, put an inch or two of sand or pebbles in a plastic quart bottle to weigh it down. Fill the bottle with water and then put it in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanisms. In an average home, the bottle may displace 10 gallons or more of water a day. Note: Never put a brick in the toilet. Bricks tend to disintegrate in the water and can damage plumbing.

Take shorter showers.
Long, hot showers waste five to ten gallons of water every unneeded minute. Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off.

Install water-saving shower heads or flow restrictors.
Most older shower heads put out five to ten gallons of water per minute. Your local hardware or plumbing supply store stocks inexpensive, water-saving shower heads that use less than 3 gallons per minute. New technology and design of the low flow shower heads means you won't even notice the difference - except on your water bill.

Turn off the water after you wet your toothbrush.
After you have wet your toothbrush and filled a glass for rinsing your mouth, there is no need to keep water pouring down the drain.

Rinse your razor in the sink.
Before shaving, partially fill your sink with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your blade just as efficiently as running water, and far less wastefully.

Use your automatic dishwasher only for full loads.
Every time you run your dishwasher, you use about 25 gallons of water on older models.

If you wash dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing.
If you have two sinks, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you have one sink, gather all the washed dishes in the dish rack and rinse them with an inexpensive spray device.

Don't let the faucet run while you clean vegetables.
Put a stopper in the sink and fill the sink with clean water.

Use your automatic washing machine for full loads only.
Your automatic washer uses 30 to 40 gallons of water in a cycle. Most automatic washers have a water level regulator. To save water, use the appropriate setting.