The Water-Wise Checklist

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1.  Water your lawn only when it needs it!  Watering frequently can be very wasteful as it doesn't allow for cool spells or rainfall that can reduce the need to water.  A good way to see if your lawn needs water is to step on the grass.  If the grass springs back when you move your foot, it doesn't need water.  Change your sprinkler clocks to suit weather conditions.  (Remember that less water is needed in spring and fall.)

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2.  Deep-soak your lawn.  When you do water your lawn, do it long enough for water to seep down to the roots where it won't evaporate quickly and where it will do the most good.  A light sprinkling, which sits on the surface, will simply evaporate and be wasted.  A slow, steady fall of water is the best way to irrigate your lawn.

r	3.  Water during the cool part of the day.  Avoid watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.  During the cooler morning and evening hours, there is less evaporation and wind is generally lighter.

r	4.  Don't water the gutter.  Position your sprinklers in such a way that water lands on your lawn or garden, not on concrete where it does no good.

r	5.  Check for leaks in pipes, hoses, faucets, and couplings.  Leaks outside the house may seem bearable since they don't mess up the floor or drive you crazy at night.  But they can be even more wasteful than leaks in the water meter line!

r	6.  Plant drought resistant trees and plants.  Visit your local nursery or this virtual demonstration garden to see the many varieties of trees and plants that thrive in Utah and require far less water than other species.

r	7.  Use a broom to clean driveways, sidewalks, and steps.  A broom is the proper tool for cleaning these areas.  Using a hose wastes hundreds of gallons of water.

r	8.  Put a layer of mulch around trees and plants.  A layer of mulch (3-4 inches) will slow the evaporation of moisture and inhibit weeds!

r	9.  Don't run the hose while washing your car.  Soap down your car with a pail of soapy water, then use the hose to rinse it off.

r	10.  Teach your children that your hose and sprinklers are not toys.  There are few things more cheerful than the sound of happy children playing under a hose or sprinkler on a hot day.  Unfortunately, there are also few things more wasteful of precious water.

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11.  Check your toilet for leaks.  A leak in your toilet may be wasting more than 100 gallons of water a day.  To check, put a little food coloring in your toilet tank.  If, without flushing, the coloring begins to appear in the bowl, you have a leak.  Adjust or replace the flush valve, or call a plumber.

r	12.  Stop using your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket.  Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tissue, or some other small bit of trash down the toilet, you waste 5 to 7 gallons of water.

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13.  Replace your old toilet.  Toilets are the biggest water users inside the home.  Replace your old toilet with a new ultra-low-flow toilet.  These toilets use approximately 1.6 gallons per flush as opposed to older style toilets that use 5 to 7 gallons per flush.  The new toilets are readily available and come in many styles and colors.

r	14.  Take shorter showers.  Long, hot showers waste 5 to 10 gallons of water every unneeded minute.  Limit your showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down, and rinse off.

r	15.  Install water-saving showerheads.  Replace your old showerhead with a new low-flow showerhead that uses 2.5 gallons per minute.  A good low-flow showerhead produces a great shower.  Try it!  You'll like it!  (And you'll save water, too.)

r	16.  Turn off the water after you wet your toothbrush.  After you have wet your toothbrush and filled a glass for rinsing your mouth, there is no need to keep water pouring down the drain.

r	17.  Rinse your razor in the sink.  Before shaving, partially fill your sink with a few inches of warm water.  This will rinse your blade just as efficiently as running water and far less wastefully.

r	18.  Check your faucets and pipes for leaks.  Even the smallest drip from a worn washer can waste 50 or more gallons of water per day.  Larger leaks can waste hundreds of gallons.

r	19.  Use your automatic dishwasher only for full loads.  Every time you run your dishwasher, you use about 25 gallons of water.

r	20.  If you wash dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing.  If you have two sinks, fill on with soapy water and one with rinse water.  If you have one sink, gather all the washed dishes in the dish rack and rinse them with an inexpensive spray device.

r	21.  Don't let the faucet run to clean vegetables.  To wash vegetables, put a stopper in the sink and fill with a few inches of clean water.

r	22.  Keep a bottle of drinking water in the refrigerator.  This ends the wasteful practice of running tap water to cool it off for drinking.

r	23.  Use your automatic washing machine only for full loads.  Your automatic washer uses 30 to 35 gallons of water in a cycle.  That's a lot of water for only 3 t-shirts!

Your Score

If you've checked 19 to 23 boxes, you're doing an excellent job saving water, energy, and protecting our environment!

From 12 to 18 boxes means you're doing a good job, but there's room for improvement.

Less than 12 boxes means you need to change your habits.