Looks like your screen is a bit too small

The page you are attempting to view is not currently compatible with the dimensions of your device. Please visit this page on a larger screen.

Water Efficiency

Depending on the age of your home and the fixtures installed, most of your water use will take place in the bathroom. Toilets, showers, baths and washing machines are typically the biggest water users in your home.

Use the instructions provided below to perform a water audit in your home to find out where you may
be using water excessively, and then follow these simple water efficiency tips to start saving water
and money in your home today!

Bathroom

Water conservation is most important in the bathroom. Up to 35 per cent of water used
in the house could be through the toilet, depending on its size, and another 25 per cent through
the shower.

Consider purchasing low-flow toilets and showerheads and use common sense practices to help you save more water.

• Try and take five minute showers and turn showers off when shampooing. Many showerheads now have this feature so temperature controls don’t need to be touched.
• Check regularly for leaks and fix leaking taps right away. A leaking tap can waste up to 50 litres of water a day.
• Check toilets for leaking flappers. To check if your toilet is leaking, place a few drops of food colouring in your tank. If after 15-30 minutes any of the food colouring seeps into the bowl without flushing, you have a leak.
• If you do not wish to go to the expense of replacing your toilets, there are various devices such as early closing flappers and fill valves that can reduce water use for a small cost.

Kitchen

• Wait until you have a full load before you use your automatic dishwasher.
• Don’t wash dishes by hand with running water. Use one sink for washing and the other for rinsing. If you have only one sink, rinse the washed dishes with a sprayer or a pot of water.
• Keep a jug of drinking water in your refrigerator to avoid running water until it is cold enough to drink.

Laundry Room

• Consider purchasing a front-loading washing machine.  Washing machines can consume up to 20 per cent of water use in a typical home.  Front-loading machines use 40 per cent less water than traditional top-loading machines. Additionally, they use less electricity, less soap; they can hold more clothes and clothes come out dryer thus reducing drying time.
• If you have the “suds saver” feature, on your washer remember to use it. This feature reuses clean rinse-water when you wash two or more loads.
• In Barrie, hard water is a fact of life. Water softeners operate by substituting sodium or potassium (salt) for calcium, magnesium or iron minerals that can cause hard water. Water softeners can waste large amounts of water and have other negative impacts. Consider purchasing a water softener with a hardness sensor control. The sensor control monitors the hardness of the water and activates the softening system only when needed. These units save money in the long run by reducing the amount of salt and water used by the system.

Conducting a Water Audit

A water audit helps you track water usage by particular appliances and can also help identify leaks. Use the simple worksheet provided to keep track of your water consumption for at least a week under typical conditions (not with company, or people away). Every time you use water from a tap, toilet or washing machine, mark it on the worksheet. At the end of the week, add up the number of times each activity was done and multiply this by the amount of litres shown under the “litres per time” column.

After completing your water audit consider areas where you use the most water, then use the tips provided in these pages to improve your water efficiency and start saving money today.