Conserve Water: Ways to Save Water and Money
First, as there is only Len and myself, we do not use the dishwasher. Actually Len is my dishwasher, and he does the dishes once a day, which saves an awful lot of water.
We always take a shower instead of having a bath. I keep the shower on a light spray until I am soaped up and then only use the full spray to remove the soap. The shower head actually came from the City of New Port Richey and it does use less water than a lot of the older shower heads.
As there are only the 2 of us I wait to do the washing until I get a full white load and at least a three-quarter load of coloreds. I also save on my electricity by always washing in cold water.
We have 3 toilets in our townhouse and this is the culprit for giving us high water bills. About 6 months ago we had one for 8 times the amount of water we normally use. I had heard the toilet in Len’s bathroom running a couple of times and commented on it. After this bill we went out and purchased a universal toilet tank repair it, which was a fill valve and flapper. The old ball type must have been in the toilet tank for over 20 years and just wasn’t doing the job efficiently. The water company helped us out by reducing our bill by around $35 on that occasion.
I have just received another high bill from the water company and telephoned them. They came and read the meter and it was correct. This time they are not giving us a break so we went out and bought another toilet tank repair kit for our downstairs toilet. These work out at around $9-$10 and Len can fit them. They come with a 10-year warranty. With all 3 toilets now having the new fill valve and flapper our water company will be very happy that we are not wasting water and my checkbook will be pleased when the bills roll in.
Where we live is a 55 and above development and we use reclaimed water from our ponds for the sprinkler system. This saves the city and us a great deal of water.
We are hoping that the Florida water situation will improve if everyone does his or her part.
