Do you know how much water a family of five uses in the bathroom alone? Of course this is dependent on the length of your showers, whether you let the water run while you brush your teeth and the the size of your toilet’s reservoir. For those of you with a seven gallon toilet tank, flushing can quickly consume close to 400 gallons of water daily. This isn’t including any of the water used in the kitchen, the laundry room or outdoors. But a single 20-ounce plastic bottle can help you use water more wisely. By displacing water, a plastic bottle can help your family conserve water and cut back on utility bills.
How it works – The primary purpose of filling a 20-ounce plastic bottle with water is to displace water volume in the toilet tank. If you have a full bottle placed in your toilet’s reservoir, it takes up space and allows the regulator to turn off earlier than normal after each flush. Since the bottle itself never empties during the flush, the toilet has a constant amount of water that never needs a refill.
Room for Growth – A 20-ounce plastic bottle is the perfect size for smaller toilet reservoirs that have give you less room to work with. But many larger toilets may be able to accommodate up to a 2-liter bottle. However, you may be able to add more than one 20-ounce bottle to your tank if you want to experiment with saving even more water.
Savings per Flush – Using a 20-ounce bottle may not seem like a way to save a lot of water. But consider how often the toilet is flushed throughout any given day by each person under your roof. For the sake of argument, assume that there is an average of six flushes per person per day for a family of five. That 20-ounce bottle of water could save more than four and a half gallons of water per day. That’s more than 1,700 gallons every year!
This experiment just goes to show you how even the smallest changes in your daily activities can alter the amount of resources you consume. Rethink your daily routine and help conserve natural resources for future generations.
For more tips on adding conservation to your routine, check out the 3Rs on askHRgreen.
Guest blog submitted by Ashley Hardway who loves to help families grow stronger, help their environments and communities, and keep moving forward! Connect with her at @NannyLady to find out more.