Water Conservation

At PlatoPlumbing, our expert plumbers get lots of questions from homeowners about how to save money on their water bills each month. Here we’ve compiled our top nine water conservation tips that will help you keep more hard-earned money in your pocket:

Save water in the kitchen

  • Use the dishwasher less often, making sure it’s completely full before running it. If you’re planning to buy a new model soon, look for an efficient ENERGY STAR qualified unit. Bonus: With this tip, you’ll save money on your electricity bill and your water bill.
  • When hand-washing dishes, use a large bowl, basin or bucket inside the sink, instead of filling the whole sink with water.
  • Reuse leftover cooking water to water your garden and your indoor plants.

Water conservation in the laundry room

  • Do your hand washing in a basin, instead of filling the whole sink, to save water when washing your delicate clothing.
  • Upgrade your washing machine hoses. Burst hoses in the laundry room are the most common cause of residential indoor flooding. Those rubber hoses aren’t as sturdy as your plumbing pipes or your washing machine itself. Each time your washing machine shuts off, it sends a shock wave (called a water hammer) through the pipes. This repeated action stretches, weakens and damages rubber washing machine hoses over time. Save yourself a high water bill, plumbing repair costs, property damage and aggravation. Prevent burst rubber hoses by replacing them with flexible, stainless steel, braided hoses.

Bathroom water-saving tips

  • Install low flow shower heads and faucet aerators in all of your bathrooms. This one tip can reduce your water bill by 25 to 60 percent, according to US Department of Energy’s Energy.gov.
  • Save water with every flush of your toilet. Fill a 20 ounce water bottle, secure the lid and place it in your toilet tank. The bottle displaces some of the water in the tank, causing it to use less water for each flush. You’ll save about 20 ounces per flush, which will add up throughout the month.
  • Replace your toilet flapper annually, even if the product says it lasts longer. When you buy a new flapper, get an adjustable one. You’ll save about 3 gallons of water per flush.