With only 1.2% of Earth’s freshwater available for human use, finding effective ways to save water has never been more critical. Every drop counts when it comes to sustaining life and protecting the environment.
By adopting innovative water-saving methods—both at home and in larger industries—we can ensure that future generations have access to this precious resource while reducing the strain on our planet.
Let’s explore practical and actionable methods you can start using today to save water and make a positive impact.
The Importance of Saving Water
“Water, water, everywhere, and not a drop to drink.” These words from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, serve as an eerily relevant reminder of the scarcity of drinkable water in a world surrounded by it.
This scarcity isn’t just a poetic image; it’s a growing reality. While Earth is unique in its abundant water supply, only 3% of that water is fresh, and a mere 1.2% is accessible for human consumption. The rest is trapped in glaciers, ice caps, and permafrost—natural reserves that are now under threat due to climate change.
As glaciers melt and ice sheets collapse, the world faces not only rising sea levels and shifting shorelines but also a critical reduction in the availability of freshwater. This decline has profound consequences, impacting everything from agriculture and industry to human health and ecosystem stability.
Given how essential water is to survival—humans can only survive three days without it in most conditions—preserving our limited resources has become more important than ever. Understanding the importance of saving water is the first step towards mitigating these risks and ensuring a sustainable future.”
Wasting Water — Who Are the Biggest Culprits?
The United States is one of the world’s largest water consumers, sucking up more than comparable countries like Canada, Russia, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom2. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, here’s how the nation allocates its use:
- Power generation accounts for 41% of withdrawals, although much of the water is recycled, not “used.”
- Agriculture is the biggest consumer, accounting for 37% of withdrawals, although 17 times as much disappears due to evaporation or other loss.
- Public consumption accounts for 12%.
- Mining and industry use 6%.
Although public consumption doesn’t seem to contribute much to the overall water picture, consumers have the greatest impact on conservation there.
The average American family uses 300 gallons of water daily, primarily for indoor use like cooking, bathing, and cleaning3. How much of it goes down the drain unnecessarily? Consider these statistics:
- The average household’s water leaks account for nearly 10,000 gallons wasted each year.
- 10% of homes have leaks that waste more than 90 gallons per day.
- A leaky toilet can waste anywhere from 30 gallons a day to six per minute.
- The average 10-minute shower uses 25 gallons of water.
Properly maintaining your indoor plumbing makes a huge difference in reducing water waste. Additionally, improving efficiency is often a simple matter of shifting how you perform certain daily habits.
Community Water Efficiency
Local communities also contribute to a lack of water efficiency in public consumption. Waste can occur from water-intensive projects and how developers design them. Proper planning and taking remedial measures where necessary can preserve the supply. Additionally, it is essential for communities to find water transport solutions that optimize distribution and reduce waste, ensuring that water resources are utilized effectively.
For example, golf courses are notorious for wasting water, as maintaining all that grass and greenery takes a bundle. The average course uses 93,750 gallons daily, enough to fill the average swimming pool nearly four times.
Landscaping, in general, contributes to water waste — but designing layouts with efficiency in mind makes a difference. For example, a drip system is far more efficient than watering gardens with a hose.
Pondless fountains can create striking water features while using far fewer gallons than traditional artificial lakes. Xeriscaping utilizes native plants instead of grass, reducing water use and maintenance needs while cutting lawnmower emissions.
6 Easy Methods To Save Water for Individuals
You want to do your part to improve water efficiency and reduce waste. Here are six techniques, including those renters and those with low incomes can do to conserve this precious resource.
1. Turn Off the Tap
Do you stand in front of the mirror with the faucet running while you brush your teeth or shave? Do you keep the stream flowing while you wash dishes? If so, you’re wasting water.
You can save nearly 5,700 gallons annually by shutting off the faucet while brushing your teeth or shaving. Turning it off between rinses saves another 5,700 gallons yearly if you hand-wash dishes. You don’t only conserve a vital resource — you trim your bill.
Furthermore, while it can be tough to get in the habit if you live alone and are accustomed to washing your plate right after eating, you should use that newer dishwasher in your apartment. Doing so uses only 3-4 gallons, compared to 27 for hand washing — assuming you have sufficient dishware to fill the device4.
2. Use a Timer
Even if you don’t use one every time, a timer can alert you to shower habits that decrease your water efficiency. Yes, sometimes it feels heavenly to let the spray cascade over you, and it might be your only safe spot in the house to cry — exercise self-compassion when you need it.
However, you can save at least 5 gallons, possibly more, by shortening your daily shower. Approach this task scientifically and make it a fun game. First, set a timer starting the moment you turn on the tap and ending when you shut it off to discover how long your showers typically take. Then, challenge yourself to shave off a minute each time — can you get down to under five?
3. Upgrade Your Appliances
Even older dishwashers use fewer gallons of water than hand washing, but the most up-to-date models save the most. Another appliance few people consider is their water heater.
Upgrading to an Energy Star model improves energy and water efficiency. Furthermore, those featuring a recirculation pump reduce how long it takes water to get warm at the fixture and come on both tank and tankless models to reduce what you send down the drain.
4. Go Low-Flow
Upgrading your fixtures when it’s time to renovate also matters to water efficiency—and your wallet. Retrofitting with WaterSense-labeled toilets and sinks could save you up to $380 annually.
What if you rent and have zero say over what’s in your apartment? There’s finally an environmentally positive use for that empty plastic water bottle. Find a 16-ounce version and add it to your tank to reduce how much goes down the drain with each flush.
5. Collect Rainwater
Rainwater collection systems are easy for even novice DIYers to construct. It’s essentially a series of connected PVC pipes that attach to your gutter’s storm drain and flow into barrels. You might even get away with one on your landlord’s property, as it’s simple enough to deconstruct when you move.
Using collected rainwater to flush a toilet can save up to 6 gallons. Many people, however, use it to maintain their landscaping. Although it takes a bit more DIY savvy, attaching a solar-powered drip system to your rainwater collection can create a gorgeous outdoor space that doesn’t waste water or create emissions. How cool is that?
Here is a video from Sensible Prepper showcasing an easy, practical rain catchment system
6. Audit Your Home for Leaks
Address a plumbing leak as soon as you notice it. However, not all leaks are visible. One way to audit your home is to shut off your water main and watch the indicator to see if it moves. If it does, you have trouble somewhere.
Test your toilet by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank. If it flows into the bowl, you have an issue with your flapper. If you must call a plumber, ask them about installing a leak detector to alert you to problems and protect your home.
4 Methods to Save Water for Communities
Your community can also make strides in saving water. Knowing what’s possible makes you a more effective advocate. Attend meetings and offer support for the following innovations.
1. Recycle Grey Water
Individual homeowners can use recycled grey water on their landscaping — but doing so at the community level is more feasible. Grey water refers to what goes down household drains separate from sewage.
It may contain fats, oils, chemicals, and other contaminants, making it unsafe for drinking. Your community must obtain the required permits but can reclaim, treat and use it for purposes like maintaining community outdoor spaces.
2. Xeriscape
Xeriscaping on a community scale reduces water use. Using native plants is also one way to encourage pollinators like butterflies and bees. These critters play a crucial role in the food supply, and an abundance of them keeps community gardens growing strong.
Finally, it reduces maintenance needs. Who likes awakening every Saturday to the clamor of countless lawnmowers?
In areas requiring irrigation, such as golf courses or dog parks, communities can plant drought-resistant grasses like buffalograss, zoysiagrass, and saltgrass, which require little water and few pesticides.
Additionally, they can invest in state-of-the-art irrigation systems that harness AI and sensors to distribute the right amount of water where needed, conserving the rest.
3. Retrofit Government and Public Buildings
Restoring old government and public buildings preserves history, but retrofitting appliances and fixtures makes their use feasible for current times. When performing renovations, selecting the most energy—and water-efficient models should take priority.
Additionally, such facilities can explore technologies such as rainwater harvesting systems paired with greywater recycling to conserve water use.
4. Educate the Community and Provide Incentives
Community leaders can increase awareness. One inexpensive measure is to hang posters regarding wise water use in public restrooms. Additionally, local water authorities can include informational brochures—printed or electronic—in mass communications to customers.
On a larger scale, communities can provide informational tables about water conservation at local events. When selecting bids for construction projects, they can give preference to the firm with the most water-efficient design for the new structure.
Doing so encourages local business leaders to do their part and might result in an otherwise overlooked small business winning a valuable opportunity to show what they can do.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Much Water Does a Dripping Faucet Waste?
Little drips can make a big difference. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, a single dripping faucet can waste as much as 3,000 gallons per year, assuming one drip per second.
Can Renters Improve Water Efficiency?
Everyone, including renters, can improve their water efficiency. Turning off the tap while brushing your teeth and shaving and cutting back on shower time are simple measures anyone can do — they even save money.
How Can Golf Courses Save Water?
Golf courses can Save by switching to drought-resistant grasses — or even transitioning to fully synthetic turf for greens, such as Suncoast in Florida and Gator Nationals in Texas Hill County.
What’s One Simple Thing I Can Do Today to Stop Wasting Water?
The easiest thing you can do today to stop wasting water is to turn off the faucet when shaving or brushing your teeth.
References
National Geographic Society: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/earths-fresh-water/
Council on Foreign Relations: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/how-us-water-infrastructure-works
EPA: https://www.epa.gov/watersense
The Spruce: https://www.thespruce.com/does-using-a-dishwasher-actually-save-water-5218699/