Using less water around your home saves money. Local streams, lakes, and resevoirs benefit also.
INVEST IN WATER-SAVING TECHNOLOGY
- Install a high-efficiency toilet, washing machine, and dishwasher
- Get low-flow faucet aerators and shower heads
- Use a pool cover to reduce evaporation
- Use soaker hoses or trickle irrigation systems for trees and shrubs
- Install moisture sensors on sprinkler systems
TURN OFF THE FAUCET
- Don't let the water run while shaving or brushing teeth
- Take short showers, not baths
- Turn off water while soaping or shampooing
- Keep a jug of cold drinking water in the refrigerator
- Don't defrost frozen foods under running water
LOCATE AND FIX LEAKS
- Time a leaking faucet: 5 drips a minute wastes 21 gallons a month
- For larger leaks, time how long it takes to fill an 8 ounce cup. At 10 minutes, 270 gallons a month are lost
- To find toilet leaks, add food coloring to the tank; color in the bowl signals a leak
- Repail leaks in your outdoor water system
BE GARDEN-SMART
- Durng droughts, follow local watering restrictions
- Water during the coolest part of the day and avoid windy days
- Water deep-rooted trees and shrubs longer and less frequently
- Water shallow-rooted flowers with less water and more often
- Use mulch to keep soil moist and cut weed growth
- Remove thatch and aerate turf to move water to the root zone
- Raise mower cutting height and minimize lawn fertilizer
CLEAN UP YOUR ACT
- Wash fruits and vegetables in a basin of water
- Scrape, don't rinse, dishes before loading dishwasher
- Compost food wastes instead of using garbage disposal
- Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes
More information is available on EPA's website:
http://www.epa.gov/owm/water-efficiency/water/simple.htm
or the American Water Works Association's WaterWiser website
http://www.awwa.org/waterwiser/
NEW YORK STATE WATER SUPPLY FACTS
General water use
- Public water supplies in the state provide more that 2.5 billion gallons a day -- the third highest in US after California and Texas.
- Nearly 95 percent of New Yorkers receive water from about 11,000 public water supply systems.
- Private household water supplies (nearly all from ground water) provides 142 million gallons a day - the fifth highest in the US.
- New York City's public water supply system is the largest engineered water system in the nation - serving more than 9 million people.
Groundwater supplies
- Groundwater provides nearly one-quarter of all water used in New York.
- Publilc water supplies draw about 583 million gallons a day of groundwater.
- Statewide, New Yorkers use almost 900 million gallons a day of groundwater.
- About half of the groundwater used in New York State is concentrated on Long Island.
Surface water supplies
- The majority of the state's public water supply comes from surface water - almost 2 billion gallons per day.
- Nearly 7.5 million of the 9 million people served by New York City water supplies receive surface water.
- Surface water supplies about 12 million gallons a day for irrigation and 152 million gallons a day for industrial use.
