Saving Water

I got a press release from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) this week talking about saving water and it got me thinking. It's easy to forget about our most precious resource in the world, water. We take it for granted. Turn a knob and there it is. Worldwide approximately 1.2 billion people (15% of population) do not have access to clean water. Here in the U.S. we are blessed with water, but every year there are cases of drought and water shortages in every region of the country. This year has been a wet one in Minnesota, but we are still dealing with a drought that has ground water levels 5-15 feet lower than normal. Here are a few tips from the EPA on saving water:

· Check toilets for silent leaks by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank; if the color shows up in the bowl indicating a leak, fixing it may be as simple as replacing the toilet’s flapper.
· Twist on a WaterSense labeled bathroom faucet aerator to use 30 percent less water without a noticeable difference in flow.
· Replace a showerhead with a WaterSense labeled model that uses less water and energy, but still has all the power of a water-hogging model.

For more water saving tips visit http://www.epa.gov/watersense/