Wildfires have been ranging across the state of California for the last month. After a hot and dry Summer, the Fall always brings wildfire season. Now, more than ever, it’s important to conserve water. As an added bonus, by saving water you also save money! Who doesn’t like to save money? Here are ten simple ways to save water.

1. Fix Leaks

Leaks are the biggest unnecessary loss of water. According to the EPA, the average household can lose 10,000 gallons of water a year to leaks alone. One of the easiest ways to find leaks is to put a piece of paper beneath the U-joint of your sink. If you check it in a week and see a watermark, you know there’s a leak. If your toilet is leaking, you’ll hear it. Keep an eye and ear out for leaks and fix them right away.

2. Take Shorter Showers

The average American uses approximately 15.8 gallons of water in an 8 minute shower. One of the best ways to save water is to take shorter showers. Or if you haven’t been active that day, skip the shower all together.

Quick Tip: Adding a small sand timer can help you keep track of time in the shower.

3. Catch Shower Water or Save Bath Water

I have a small bucket in my shower that we use to catch water while it’s heating up. I use the water to flush the toilet later in the day. If you don’t already know, you can flush the toilet by dumping a bucket of water into the bowl.

For those who have kids, you can save bath water to flush toilets as well.

4. Switch to Low Flow Options

Speaking of showers and toilets, switching to lower flow options can save multiple gallons per shower or flush. The average toilet built prior to 1992 used 5 – 7 gallons of water per flush! Some of the most efficient toilets use about a gallon of water.

It’s not just toilets and showers that can be low flow. Basically, any appliance in your house that uses water could be low flow. When choosing items for your house, make sure they are water efficient.

5. Reuse Produce Washing Water

After a trip to the farmer’s market, there’s a lot of washing and preparing of produce. I keep an old glass bottle on my counter to pour all the produce water into. The next morning, I water my plants with the produce water. The water already has little bits of dirt in it, why not return it home?

6. Reuse Cooking Water

After boiling or steaming corn or any other vegetables, I let the water cool and save it to water my plants. Oftentimes the water adds extra nutrients to the plants. Do NOT do this if the water is salted for foods like pasta.

7. Flush Only When Necessary

Like they say, “If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.” If it’s just you or you and your spouse, why not let pee just hang out in the toilet. Pee is sterile, so it won’t make you sick to leave it hanging around in the toilet.

Like I mentioned before, every flush could send up to 7 gallons of water down the drain. If you’re like me and you’re constantly drinking water, that’s potentially 7 gallons every hour for 16 hours…that’s 112 gallons a day, just to flush your toilet!

8. Run Full Loads

Dish and clothes washers are most efficient when the load is full. Let the items pile up before washing so you can do less but full loads.

9. Water In the Mornings

When watering your outdoor plants, make sure you water in the mornings when it is cool. This prevents extra water from evaporating which is more likely to happen when you water at the hottest time of the day.

10. Swap Out Thirsty Lawns for Ocean-Friendly Gardens

Finally, lawns are thirsty and not very useful. Consider replacing them with an Ocean-Friendly Garden. An Ocean-Friendly Garden is made from drought tolerant native plants. These gardens are beautiful but also allow water to seep into the soil and help filter it before heading to the ocean. Lastly, since they are native, they don’t need chemical fertilizers that are harmful to sea life when they wash out into the ocean.

What do you think? Can you start doing some or all of these to help save water and money? What are some of your tips for saving water? Tell me in the comments!

For related and random posts, check out:

• 10 Ways to Protect the Ocean
• Plastic-Free Showering