8 • The Southwest Portland Post
Dear EarthTalk: Is it true that the
bathroom is where over half of our
household water usage takes place?
What are some ways to take a bite out
of that?
– Shelby McIntyre, Chico, CA
Yes indeed, some 60 percent of our
household indoor water usage hap-
pens in the bathroom. As such, updat-
ing old leaky fixtures and changing a
few basic habits could go a long way
to not only saving fresh water, an
increasingly precious resource, but
also money.
Undoubtedly, the toilet is the big-
gest water hog in the bathroom.
Those made before 1993 use up to
eight gallons of water per flush, five
times what modern toilets use. “It’s a
good idea to replace pre-1993 toilets if
you can,” says Patty Kim of National
Geographic’s Green Guide.
FYI, usually a toilet’s manufacture
date is stamped under the lid if you
want to check how old it is.
If it is older and you can’t or don’t
want to upgrade it, Kim recommends
FEATURES
rescuing a two liter soda bottle from
the recycling bin and filling it partially
with some water and sand or pebbles
and then putting it into your toilet’s
tank, where it will take up space and
force your toilet to use less water
every flush.
Or get a Toilet Tank Bank for less
than two bucks; it hangs in your toilet
tank and displaces almost a gallon of
water to save water on every flush.
Plumbing leaks account for some 14
percent of the total water usage in an
average U.S. home. Toilets are often a
major culprit. Kim recommends test-
ing your toilet by putting 5-10 drops
of food coloring into the tank, then
put the lid back on but don’t flush.
Check back in 15 minutes or so to
see if any of the colored water leaked
down into the bowl. If so, you have
a water-wasting leak, and it might
finally be time to replace that aging
toilet after all.
The EarthEasy website reports that
replacing an older18 liter per flush
toilet with an ultra-low volume (ULV)
6 liter flush model “represents a 70
percent saving in water flushed and
will cut indoor water use by about 30
percent.”
The shower can also be problematic
as a water-waster, especially if the
showerhead in question was made
before new regulations went into
effect in 1992 mandating lower flow.
Kim says you can check to see if
your shower head is older or not by
turning the shower on full blast and
catching its output for two minutes in
February 2012
a bucket. If the bucket is overflowing,
then your showerhead is an older,
more wasteful model.
Newer low flow showerheads
won’t come anywhere near to filling
the bucket after two minutes. A new
showerhead costs around $10 and is
a great investment because you can
save water and money with every
ensuing shower.
Regardless of whether or not you
have a newer showerhead, you can
save more water by turning off the
shower to soap up, then turning it
back on to rinse.
Eartheasy reminds us that even
with a new showerhead, even a
moderately short shower can still use
between 20 and 40 gallons of water.
But that’s nothing compared to a
bathtub, which can hold as much as
50-60 gallons of water.
Additional pearls of wisdom in
regard to reducing bathroom water
waste include turning off the faucet
while brushing teeth. Better yet, fill
up a glass with just enough water to
rinse after brushing.
Likewise for shaving (gentlemen),
stop up the sink with a little warm
water in it and wiggle your razor
around in the basin between strokes.
And if you suspect your faucet may
be spraying harder than it needs to,
unscrew the aerator tip where the
water comes out and take it into a
hardware store for a more stingy
replacement.
CONTACTS: The Green Guide,
http://environment.nationalgeo-
Some 60 percent of our household
indoor water usage happens in the
bathroom. A shower, even with a
low-flow shower head, can use up to
40 gallons of water. (Photo courtesy of
Hemera Collection/Thinkstock)
graphic.com/environment/green-
guide/; EarthEasy, www.eartheasy.
com.
EarthTalk® is written and edited by
Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss and is a
registered trademark of E - The Envi-
ronmental Magazine (www.emagazine.
com). Send questions to: earthtalk@
emagazine.com.
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