Environmentally Friendly Plumbing Systems Can Save You Money

A typical American home uses approximately one-hundred gallons of water per day, and according to the 2007 census, there are over one-hundred and eleven million households in the U.S. So, making some of the smallest changes to your own plumbing system can not only save you money now, but a potentially significant amount of money over time. And if everyone made these changes it would make a huge positive impact on the environment.

A leaking faucet isn't just annoying, it also costs you money. Fixing it keeps your money from going down the drain. Roughly twelve and a half gallons of a household's water use is attributed to faucet, toilet, and pipe leaks. A dripping faucet can waste up to seventy-four gallons a day, a leaking toilet up to two-hundred gallons a day. A quick repair by you or your plumber now, will save you money in the long run.

Graywater/greywater systems are a safe and easy way to collect and filter the water used by faucets, dishwashers, and washing machines, and then reuse it for non-drinking water purposes. One example would be using this recycled water to water your plants. Graywater systems also keep your soil well irrigated by diverting water to it instead of your local sewage system.

Leaking faucets aren't just annoying, they also cost you money. Fixing them keeps your money from going down the drain. On average, between twelve and thirteen gallons of households' water use is water wasted by faucet, toilet, and pipe leaks. One leaking faucet can waste over seventy gallons a day and a leaking toilet can waster more than one-hundred and ninety gallons each day. It's worth it to fix leaks yourself or calling a plumber to do it for you, you will save money in the long run.

Leaky faucets: The steady drip of a leaky tap isn't just annoying, it can really add up. Fixing your leaky faucets is a way to keep water and money from slipping down the drain. The average American household consumes about 90 gallons of water a day. About 12.6 gallons of that is due to faucet, toilet, and pipe leaks. Stopping this ongoing loss is as easy as calling your plumber to fix that chronic leak that you've been putting off. A dripping faucet can waste up to 74 gallons a day, a leaking toilet up to 200 gallons a day. Repair a leaky toilet and you can save 73,000 gallons a year.

When leaky pipes can't be repaired because of too many pinhole leaks or another systemic problem, what can you do? Traditionally the solution has been to replace your plumbing system -to repipe, but that means cutting walls open and tearing out pipes. So not only are you throwing away the old pipes and the drywall that had to be removed to get at them, but then you need to replace them with new pipes and drywall. Manufacturing these new materials has an environmental impact.

But by far, the least-expensive, quickest, and best overall changes you can make to your plumbing system are adding low-flow shower heads, toilets, and faucet aerators. It's possible for these to reduce your home water use by up to fifty-percent. Additionally, by reducing your water usage, you're reducing the amount of water that you heat -cutting the energy use of your hot water heater by up to half.

About the Author

Brian LeMaire is President of CuraFlo and has been in the plumbing maintenance industry since 1981. He is a State registered plumbing contractor in Ohio. Find out more about Leaky pipes and discover what to do about Low Water Pressure