Tip Water

[David Hogan]

Conserving Water in our Drought - Central Texas once again has slipped back into drought. Conservation will save water, reduce your bill, and delay the necessity of increased taxes to bring on more capacity. Austin’s growth (estimated over 18,000 new families in 2011) places additional demands on our limited supply. The city water utility even offers rebates for installing/ improving water efficient: toilets, irrigation, clothes washers, rainwater harvesting, and landscape conversions, see: tinyurl.com/WiseWaterRebates. Other saving measures include:
* Showers – typically 1000 gal/week but with low flow shower heads save 25-60%.
* Dishwasher – Save by washing only full loads. Energy Star rated washers save 800 gal/yr.
* Leaky faucets – If every household fixed one leak then Texas would save 13 billion gal/yr.
* Lawn – Water about 1 inch per week. More scientifically see tinyurl.com/WiseLawnWatering.
       Measure by placing square-bottomed container (e.g., tuna can) on the lawn to sample amount.
       Only water on your approved days, see: tinyurl.com/WiseWateringDays.
       Grass heights of 3 inches or more shade soil and encourages deeper roots.
* Clothes Washer – Washing only full loads can save 3,400 gal/yr.
* Toilet – Fixing a toilet leak can save 200 gal/yr. Low flow models use 20% less water.

Saving water also saves the energy used to pump the water and its return as sewage. The water utility is one of the electric utility’s biggest customers.