Water scarcity is a big topic these days and there are numerous ways that you can reduce your water usage and trust me, we’re going to talk about them.

They say that water is an unlimited natural resource, but is it really that simple? If you have made it past middle school environmental science, then you are probably somewhat familiar with the water cycle (water goes up into sky-rains back down-evaporates-repeat). So technically water is unlimited because what goes up must come down. However, when you think about it, water isn’t unlimited, there’s only so much of it on our planet and we need to preserve it. That’s a great idea…but how do we do it?

Take baths

Taking baths is a phenomenal way to limit the amount of water you’re using. When you take a bath, you’re forced to stop the water at a certain point, so the tub doesn’t overflow (usually after about 10 minutes pending how large your tub is).

When you shower, the same amount of water is flowing from your shower head as would be from your tub faucet, it’s just coming out in a different form. So, when you take showers longer than 10 minutes, you’re using much more water than you would if you just filled a bathtub!

Install water-saving shower heads

Taking baths is not for everybody and that’s completely understandable! If you are someone who prefers showers, test out a water-saving shower head that decreases the amount of water your shower produces. Yes, you will experience a decrease in water pressure, but you will be saving a ton of water along the way!

This is also a great option for people who like to take longer showers. Installing water saving shower heads allows you to take long showers but use about half the water you normally would!

Hand wash or use your dishwasher

Seems a little strange to recommend both options hear but just hold on a second, there’s a valid reason!

Some people hate doing the dishes, but before you throw those few cups and plates into the dishwasher and start it up, consider how much water you might be wasting. The average dishwasher uses about 6 gallons of water per cycle, yikes! You wouldn’t need more than 1 gallon of water to handwash those few dishes in your sink!

However, the same concept applies if you are an avid handwasher. If you have a sink filled with dishes, it’s likely more beneficial to load up the dishwasher than to handwash them. When you hand wash, you likely allow the water to run the entire time, but that’ where the mistake lies. At the very least, you need to turn off your water when its not being used, but if you can just load up your dishwasher, weigh the pros and cons and go for it!

There future posts! For now, try changing up your bathroom routine and focus on whether or not handwashing is best option in the moment!