My Water Pledge

Water is as important as air when it comes to surviving life on Earth. Our bodies are over 90% water, and though we can go without food for weeks if we have to, try going even one day without water. And yet, so much water is being wasted that many of our communities suffer from water shortages and undergo mandatory rationing in order to make it from one drought or shortage to the next.

That’s why I took the Wyland Foundation’s Water Conservation Pledge, and why I want you to take the My Water Pledge, too. I was already doing some things to save water, but taking the pledge – and calculating my water “footprint” – helped me identify opportunities to save even more.

Here’s How The Challenge Works

It starts with the Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation. The Challenge launched eight years ago as a competition between mayors in southern Florida to promote the health of our ocean, lakes, rivers, streams, and wetlands by being smart about how we use water. Since that time, the program has expanded to cities across the U.S., including Los Angeles, Seattle, Atlanta, Dallas, San Francisco, Tucson, and Washington, D.C. This year’s celebration in particular looks back at the progress we’ve made in the U.S. since the Cuyahoga River caught fire in 1969 because it was so polluted!  The Challenge encourages people to understand how important it is to protect our water resources through individual actions as well as steps we can take in our communities.

Calculate Your Water Footprint

To begin, calculate your own water footprint: how much water you use personally, at home, in your community, and more. The calculator asks basic questions, like whether you leave the water running in the sink. But it gets at some surprising issues, as well, like raising awareness about how much water is needed to produce the sandwich you ate for lunch, and how much electricity it takes to power your computer.

I have to confess, I pretty much never think about water use in those terms, so calculating my footprint was pretty eye opening.

Once I had that perspective, I took the pledge (which was a quick 5 minutes) and vowed to repair leaking faucets, pipes, and toilets, wash only full loads of laundry and dishes, and take shorter showers.

The pledge surprisingly connected the dots between wasting food and water (their slogan is, “Save a crop, save a drop!”). It also reminded me to turn off sprinklers when it rains (which should be a no-brainer, but often is not), and scoop up pet waste so it doesn’t get washed into a storm drain and end up in a stream or river.

Diane’s Results When She Took the My Water Pledge

My water footprint calculator already showed that I was doing a pretty good job of saving water. I only use 1,117 gallons a day, compared to the average 2,233 gpd.

But what surprised me was how much water I could save in a year by making good on my pledges: 68,376 gallons!! Whoa.

In addition to saving all that water, I’d save over $800 and reduce my climate-changing carbon impact by 280,000 pounds of polluting carbon dioxide.

Take the My Water Pledge by April 30!

The Wyland National Challenge for Water Conservation is having a big impact nationwide. In addition to raising awareness about the need to protect and save water, it motivates people and communities to do their part. To date, U.S. residents have made over 1.6 million pledges to make small but meaningful changes in their daily lives to ensure healthy waterways and a sustainable supply of fresh, clean water.

The challenge runs until April 30. Why not take the My Water Pledge today?

When you do, remember to join in the prize giveaway for a chance to win a reward (in addition to the reward of saving water). Last year, the Challenge awarded more than $50,000 in prizes to nearly 300 residents in U.S. cities. This year, they’re giving participants the opportunity to designate their favorite charity for the chance to win a 2019 Toyota Highlander Hybrid.

And do share on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, using these hashtags:

#cleanwater #healthyoceans #mywaterpledge

I’ve blogged a lot about saving water. Here are a few more posts to check out:

10 Ways to Save Water Outside and Cut Your Water Bill by 50%

We’re Drinking the Same Water as Cleopatra. Is It as Clean?

Water. Use It Wisely.

NOTE: Partnerships with organizations like the Wyland Foundation enable us to provide you with the expert content you need to lead the greener life you want. Our editorial opinions remain our own. Thanks! 

The post Why I Pledged to Save 68,376 Gallons of Water This Year! appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Are you wondering how you can live the green life you want if you’re renting an apartment rather than living in a space you own? We’ve teamed up with apartment search website RENTCafe to bring you these great ideas for enjoying an eco-friendly lifestyle in an apartment, condo, or home you rent.

How to Green Your Rental Apartment

 If you live in an apartment, you’ve likely made several changes to the décor to help suit your style.

But if you aren’t also making green improvements to your home, then it may not be as healthy or as energy efficient as it could be.

And while you may think that creating a more eco-friendly home isn’t possible as a renter, there are several ways you can green your rental apartment to save money and make it more comfortable to live in at the same time.

BONUS! You can get these done in one day and reap the benefits for a long time!

Invest in Drapes

The biggest source of energy loss in most homes is right around the window area. Even with double paned windows, if the area surrounding them isn’t well sealed, you could still be losing a lot of the energy you use to heat and cool your apartment.

By investing in good quality, thermal drapes, you can help stop this energy loss, eliminating drafts and making your apartment more comfortable at the same time.

As a bonus, most thermal drapes are also light blocking, so you can control how much sunlight your apartment gets – perfect for weekends when you want to sleep in.

By the way, if you install floor-to-ceiling drapes, you can easily take them with you when you move. They’ll fit other windows.

Swap Out Your Lightbulbs

Even if the light fixtures in the apartment need to stay as they are you can still lower your energy bill an get better ambient light at the same time by investing in new LED lightbulbs.

LEDs use far less energy than incandescents and last for at least a dozen years!

Plus, they can give off more lumens per watt (which means they produce more light for less energy), so you can get a brighter living area while saving energy at the same time.

Here’s how to choose the right LED for your apartment.

Replace Your Water-Wasting Showerhead for a WaterSense Model

It may be best to leave the main faucets and toilet in your apartment alone and encourage your landlord to make them more water efficient. But it’s easy to replace your shower head with a low-flow WaterSense model. Just look for the WaterSense logo, pictured right, when you shop.

Older shower heads use as many as 7 gallons of water a minute. New water saving units that meet EPA’s WaterSense standards use around 2 gallons. WaterSense technology helps make up the difference by spinning the water droplets as they leave the head, making the shower feel fuller.

You’ll reduce your water bill, paying for the modest cost of the shower head in no time.

Plug Into Power Strips

Many appliances end up sucking up energy even when they aren’t on or in use.

Sometimes known as “energy vampires,” these appliances and devices add a lot to your monthly energy bill.

To help save energy and money, put a power strip at each outlet, then plug your standby devices like lamps, televisions, gaming sets, and computers into these.

When you’re not using any of the items, turn off the power strip to stop the energy drain.

FYI, here’s one of the power strips I have my video monitor and Roku plugged into.

Purify the Air

If your apartment was painted in the last five years, chances are that it’s still giving off VOCs or volatile organic compounds, into the air. The effect is worse the closer you get to the time the paint was applied. In fact, about 50% of the VOCs are given off in the first year after the room was painted, with the rest “off-gassing” over the next four.

Plus, you might use air fresheners or cleaning products that are filled with synthetic fragrances, chemical compounds that can cause head aches, flu-like symptoms, and even trigger asthma attacks.

To help clean the air you breathe and eliminate some of those harmful toxicants, first switch to no VOC paint when you repaint.

In place of air fresheners, remove the sources that stink (like rotting food, dirty clothes, pet waste), circulate fresh air, and make potpourri out of fragrant natural herbs and dried flowers.

Use baking soda, vinegar, and fresh squeezed lemon juice for most cleaning projects. Open boxes or bowls of baking soda can also help absorb unwanted odors.

Monitor what’s in your air using a system like HomeLab’s, which will tell you what chemicals you’re breathing, and how you can turn your space into a healthy home.

Add Some Plants

Air purification systems aren’t the only way to clean up the air in your apartment and make it healthier; adding plants can make a big difference as well.

Greenery like English Ivy, rubber plants, and peace lilies clean the air in your home and enhance your décor, too.

Place plants in areas that may need air cleansing the most, such as kitchens, bathrooms, and bedrooms and breathe a little easier.

In my living room, I have a big peace lily. It gets beautiful white flowers once or twice a year.

Check and Replace Your HVAC Filter

If you have a furnace, central air conditioning unit, or HVAC system that uses ducts to heat or cool your apartment, make sure that you’re checking and cleaning the filter at least once per season (some companies recommend changing or cleaning filters monthly).

When the filter gets clogged, it causes the unit to work harder, spiking your energy bill.

If you aren’t sure if the filter needs to be changed, hold it up to the light; if you can’t see through it, it should be cleaned.

NOTE: You don’t need to buy a new filter every month; get one that’s reusable and wash it by spraying it with a hose or running it under a faucet. Just make sure it dries thoroughly before re-installing it. You can keep an extra on hand so you always have one to clean and one to replace it with.

Decorate Using Vintage and Recycled Furnishings

From rugs and bed frames to sofas, dining room tables and lamps, you can find great bargains and repurpose gently used (and sometimes brand new) furniture rather than buy brand new.

In addition to CraigsList.com, eBay.com and Freecycle.com, browse the listings at NextDoor.com, a site that makes it easy for neighbors to swap from each other or buy at a reasonable price.

Thrift stores, auction houses, estate sales and vintage shops (think antiques) are more great – and eco-friendly – places to shop.

Here’s one of the rugs I have in my home. When I got it 15 years ago it was already at least 60 years old.

Go Green

It doesn’t take much to green your rental apartment and make it healthier and more eco-friendly. Implement any of these changes and you’ll see the benefits in no time.

What Do You Do?

What else do you do to green your rental apartment? Please share!

Note: Partnerships enable us to bring you expert content at no additional cost to you. Our editorial opinions remain our own. Thanks!

The post 8 Inexpensive Ways to Green Your Rental Apartment (& Save Money Doing It) appeared first on Big Green Purse.

If you’re shopping for a new dishwasher, what are your top concerns?

Noise levels? Color? Price? You might not even put “energy efficient” on the list! And if you do, you might not know how to figure out which dishwasher actually saves energy.

That’s a mistake.

We’re partnering with Constellation Energy to remind you why energy efficiency needs to be a priority when you shop.

We’re also going to tell you what to look for, including the #1 secret that will make sure you get the most efficient model to meet your needs.

But first, why bother?

Dishwashers and other home appliances use a lot of electricity. For most of us that still means we’re relying on polluting fossil fuels like coal for power. And you know what happens every time your local utility burns coal? The air gets dirtier, the atmosphere gets filled with more carbon dioxide, and climate change gets worse.

The less energy your dishwasher uses, the cleaner it is to operate. But that’s not all.

The more efficient it is, the more money it saves on your electric bill, too.

Constellation projects you’ll save up to $35 a year on electricity with a more efficient model – enough to pay for several boxes or bottles of dishwashing detergent.

Plus, an energy-efficient dishwasher offers another benefit that’s good for the environment as well as your pocketbook: it uses less water. Take a look at this graphic from Constellation:

And don’t even think that you can save more energy and water by skipping the dishwasher and washing all your dishes by hand! The EPA reports that a new ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher not only cleans dishes better and kills more germs. It uses less than half as much energy as washing dishes by hand and saves more than 5,000 gallons of water each year. That adds up to big savings, too!

So…how do you know which dishwashers are energy efficient?

The Secret is…Look for those that are ENERGY STAR certified.

ENERGY STAR is a program created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to motivate manufacturers to build and sell highly efficient appliances like dishwashers. An appliance that bears the ENERGY STAR logo uses a LOT less energy and water than one that does not. According to EPA:

“Standard-size dishwashers that have earned the ENERGY STAR are on average 12 percent more energy efficient and 30 percent more water efficient than those that have not.”

Once you locate energy-efficient dishwashers that bear the ENERGY STAR logo, you can then compare other factors, like how quiet they are when they operate, and what other features they offer that will help you save energy. (Here’s a picture of my own dishwasher; the ENERGY STAR label is right on the inside of the door.)

You can also check the yellow Energy Guide label you’ll see on various machines to compare how much energy each machine is projected to use.

After you get your dishwasher home, Constellation says here’s how you can use it to save energy and water and still get your dishes clean.

For more excellent ways to save energy, visit Constellation here.

NOTE: Our partnerships enable us to provide expert content so you can live the green life you want. Our editorial opinions remain our own. Thanks.

The post Here’s the #1 Secret to Buying an Energy-Efficient Dishwasher appeared first on Big Green Purse.

What are the smartest ways to water your garden during a heat wave?

Is it so hot outside, your garden is wilting even before the sun rises or after it sets? Mine sure is!!  The only hope is to keep your vegetables and bushes watered. But how can you do that without spending all your time holding a hose? And all your dollars on a high water bill? Big Green Purse collaborated with Gilmour, which makes a very reliable garden hose, to offer you this list of smart ways to water your garden during a heatwave to help you out.

There are two secrets to water your garden during a heat wave:

1. The equipment you use
2. When and how you water

Here are 14 of the best, smartest ways to water your garden without wasting a lot of H2O or time.

1. Check your sprinkler and hoses for leaks.

“A leak as small as the tip of a ballpoint pen can waste 6,300 gallons of water,” says the U.S. EPA’s Watersense program.

It’s easy to spot a leaky hose because water shoots out of the hole. Sprinklers will spray around the place where they attach to the hose rather than send all the water through the sprinkling mechanism.

Next time you turn on the water, take a quick look. If you see a hose spurting, patch it up with duct tape. If your sprinkler is squirting, tighten the nozzle where the hose attaches to the sprinkler.

2. Let it drip.

Not your faucet. A drip irrigation system, which delivers water directly to the bottom of the plant so it can easily seep into the ground and moisten the roots. Though landscaping companies can install snazzy systems, you can also set one up yourself less inexpensively. Take a look at what Dripworks has to offer, for starters.

3. Use a timer.

If you want to set up your sprinkler and then go about your daily routine, use a timer to automatically turn the water off after a certain amount of time.

4. Can it.

A watering can or pitcher can be the perfect way to water newly planted seeds and seedlings. Using a pitcher, you can deliver the right amount of water to each seedling. Gently sprinkle water overhead to moisten the soil.

5. Try a rain barrel.

Set up a rain barrel next to a shed, garage, or your home, and capture rain water coming off the roof. You can put a rain barrel on each corner of the building if you want. Use the spigot on the bottom of the barrel to drain water into a watering can, or attach a hose. Rain barrels come in handy when rainfall is scarce and you don’t want to use your home water source to keep your garden alive.

This is Helpful! If You Don’t Have a Rain Barrel, You’re Losing Water and Money

6. Use your cooking water.

If you steam or boil vegetables, use the nutrient-rich water after it’s cooled to nourish your plants. This works easily for plants you have on your patio or porch.

7. Reuse fish tank water.

Do you have a pet fish whose tank you empty? That water will be full of nitrogen and phosphorous, great for some plants.

8. Water early in the morning and when it’s not windy.

Water early in the morning and when it’s not windy. The morning is the best time to water grass as it gives the water a chance to seep into the ground rather than evaporate in the hot sun or blow away from the plants that need it. If you have to water during the day, water plants that are in the shade as opposed to those in full sun.

9. Mulch.

A two-inch thick covering of shredded pine bark, composted leaves, or other organic materials will help the ground retain water and reduce evaporation.

10. Try worm poop.

“Vermicomposting” is the process of using worm castings (poop) to increase the organic content of the soil, which will help it retain moisture. You can add the castings themselves. Or you can let worms do the job in place.

You probably don’t want to introduce worms to your garden when it’s miserably hot and dry outside, but you can plan on adding them next spring. The more compost and organic matter you add to your soil, the more likely it will be attract worms and keep them alive.

You Want Me to Try Worm Poop? Yeah, Really…

11. Dig in some compost.

Like worm poop, well-decomposed organic compost helps the soil stay loose and retain moisture, which is great for plant roots. If your soil is primarily clay, it won’t hold water at all. If it’s too sandy, the water will drain away. Compost builds great soil that retains moisture and adds other nutrients that plants need.

Don’t Miss: Compost: Crack for the Garden!

12. Xeriscape.

Plant flowers, vegetables, and bushes that do well in the amount of rainfall that falls in your region in an average year. Once established, these plants should require little additional water. Here are some sources for regionally-appropriate plants to choose from.

13. Group plants according to their water needs.

For example, impatience need a lot of water; hostas, not so much. Make a beautiful color statement by grouping all of your impatience together, which will make them easier to water with one fell swoop.

14. Reduce slope erosion.

If you have hills or steep banks, strategically place boulders or ties to help reduce runoff, or landscape into terraces to stop water from slurrying off the hill rather than seeping into the ground.

How else do you water your garden during a heat wave?

NOTE: Collaboration with partners like Gilmour enable us to bring you the expert content you need to live the greener lifestyle you want. All editorial opinions remain our own. 

The post 14 Smart Ways to Water Your Garden During a Heat Wave appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Living in a condo in the city is actually more environmentally friendly compared to living in a suburb. The United States Environmental Protection Agency reports* that a person who lives in a downtown building uses only a third of the usual energy consumption of a person who lives in a typical suburban community.

So if you’re thinking of downsizing to a condo, or buying a condo instead of a house, that’s probably going to be good new for your pocket book, as you’ll use far less energy heating and cooling your home, and you’ll potentially reduce the amount of gasoline you burn since you may not have to drive as much. But apart from making the condo choice in the first place, what else can you do to save energy and water in your condo?

We’ve teamed up with Mondev Condos, which develops Montreal condos for sale, to offer this list of the 15 best ways to save energy and water in your condo.

Best Ways to Save Energy and Water in Your Condo

1. Install a low-flow showerhead. This ensures you don’t waste water unnecessarily every time you shower.

2. Think 1.6 gallons for your toilet. You don’t need a tank that holds several gallons of water to flush well. 1.6 is the accepted water-saving standard these days. Choose a water-saving toilet when buying new, or displace water in the tank you have using a plastic bottle weighted down with gravel. This way, you’ll use less water every time you flush the toilet.

3. Hang insulated drapes. By covering your windows with cellular blinds or blackout curtains, you’ll be able to lower your heating bills by reducing the amount of hot air coming in through the windows during the summer, and cold air coming in during the winter.

4. Insulate attic, walls, and crawl spaces. These are especially useful for outlets that face an exterior wall. If you put your fingers in front of the outlet, you will be able to feel cold air coming into the room if the outlet isn’t insulated.

5. Compost. Organize a community composting pick-up for your condo complex so all you need to do is collect your kitchen waste, then put it out at the curb for easy collection.

6. Place mobile draft stoppers near your door sill. If you can’t weatherstrip or insulate the door, at least put down a door stopper to block cold air from coming in.

7.  Insulate your windows. Use weatherstripping or caulk you can get at your local hardware store to seal leaky windows.

8. Replace old light bulbs with LED lights. LEDs are the most efficient bulbs on the market. Though they cost a little bit more, they save a lot more energy, and last longer, as well.

9. Switch off your lights and electronics if no one’s home. Often times, people forget to turn off the lights when they leave for work, or even when they’re away for a holiday. You can make this simple by installing sensors in your rooms that will automatically turn the lights off when no movement in the room is detected.

10. Choose ENERGY STAR appliances.  Refrigerators, stoves, microwaves, dishwashers, washing machines, clothes driers, most electronics, and even your HVAC system are all available in highly efficient models. Check ENERGYSTAR.gov before you buy.

11. Install a surge protector to avoid unnecessary spikes in energy use. Power bars also prevent phantom power with just one switch.

12. Repair any leaking faucets and toilets. Leaks make up 13% of home water usage. You can actually do this job yourself – check this video.

13. Install aerators on your faucets and showerhead so you can further save water. You will usually just need to screw it onto the faucet to avoid splashing a stream of water when you open the faucet.

14. Bicycle, Walk, Use Mass Transit. Depending on your proximity to city center, you might be able to get a bike-sharing station set up in your condo complex to link your community to other parts of the city by bike. Even without bike sharing, take advantage of your proximity to work, shopping and entertainment by riding your own bike, walking or using mass transit.

15. Create an organic community garden and set up a farmers market or CSA for your complex. Making it easy to grown your own organic food will save you money and trips to the grocery store. Getting a CSA to deliver pre-reserved bags of locally grown food to your complex will also cut down on how much grocery shopping you need to do while providing a reliable source of delicious fresh fruits, vegetables, baked goods, and in some cases, meats.

Improving the efficiency of your home will not only save you money and help protect the planet. It will also increase the resale value of your property when you finally sell.

*EPA: Location Efficiency and Housing Type: Boiling It Down to BTUs

The post 15 of the Best Ways to Save Energy, Water in Your Condo appeared first on Big Green Purse.

It’s time to treat your toilet like the special secret water-saving weapon it is!

Throughout the month of April, which is officially “Earth Month,” and leading up to Earth Day, we’re going to be featuring companies that are doing an extraordinary job to help protect the planet by being more environmentally responsible themselves.

Mansfield Plumbing is one of those companies. The Perrysville, Ohio business is a leader in manufacturing highly water-efficient toilets, one of your home’s secret weapons when it comes to saving water. The company is setting a great example on how to run a sustainable business, too. It recycles millions of pounds of waste plaster, paper and wood each year and is reducing the amount of water its manufacturing facility uses by between 10 and 30 percent. In fact, about 10,000 tons of its scrap material is actually being recycled into the aggregate that paves the roads leading up to landfills!

 Here’s more about the water saving toilet products the company makes and why you should select your next toilet from Mansfield Plumbing.

Why Do You Need a Water Saving Toilet?

America is running out of water. Droughts related to climate change are taking a big toll. But so is factory farming, and industrial oil and gas operations, like “fracking,” which consume enormous quantities of water that ends up polluted and unusable for generations.

As water becomes more scarce, it gets more expensive. It also becomes more important to use the water we have wisely. In our homes, one of the biggest ways we waste water is by flushing the toilet.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t flush! Of course we have to!!

But do we need to use so much water when we flush? Not by a long shot.

That’s why a high-efficiency toilet is your secret weapon when it comes to saving water.

Every time a toilet is flushed, water is used to remove the waste from the bowl.

But how much water a toilet uses is the issue. Many “old fashioned” and out-of-date toilets may still use as much as 6 gallons of water per flush. That might have been fine before so many areas of the country faced drought. But in this day and age, we just can’t afford to use that much water to dispose of our body waste.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created its WaterSense program to encourage companies to manufacture and sell water saving toilets (and other water appliances and fixtures) that get the job done using far less water than common toilets.

“WaterSense has estimated that if all old, inefficient toilets in the United States were replaced with WaterSense labeled models, we could save 520 billion gallons of water each year,” says Adriana Miller, product manager for Mansfield Plumbing.

“That’s roughly the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls in about 12 days.

 “This change to low-flow toilets is something that every homeowner can do right now to help save water and celebrate Earth Day every day throughout the year.”

WaterSense-rated toilets use just 1.28 gallons per flush (GpF) or less.

“These high efficiency toilets (HETs) save water in the home, which can help our environment, and reduce yearly water bills for consumers. It’s a win-win situation,” says Mansfield’s Miller.

And here’s another benefit:

Water saving toilets earning the WaterSense label — like many offered by Mansfield Plumbing — have been certified to be at least 20 percent more efficient without sacrificing performance.

If you’re wondering just how much water and money you’d save by switching to a WaterSense model, Miller recommends homeowners visit the Water Savings Calculator at the Mansfield Plumbing website to determine just how much water and money a family can save by investing in a WaterSense-rated toilet with a powerful flushing system.

HOW MUCH WATER CAN YOU SAVE?

⇒ A  family of four can potentially save 16,206 gallons of water each year (with an average five flushes a day per person) when installing a 1.28 Gpf toilet over a 3.5 Gpf toilet.

⇒ That equates to about $81 in savings each year.

⇒ When installing a 1.0 Maverick or Quantum toilet, the figures drop even further, to saving 18,250 gallons of water yearly or about $91 in water bills.

“For many areas of the country, it’s not about the cost savings, but about the fact that there simply isn’t enough water availability,” says Miller.

“Taking the step to invest in HETs makes good sense for communities, the environment and for homeowners.”

I took my own advice and bought a WaterSense toilet. (That’s it on the left.)

Miller points out that several states (including California and Texas) mandate the use of WaterSense-rated HETs for all new residential and commercial construction.

But whether your community requires WaterSense toilets or not, why not make the switch?

Otherwise, you’ll keep flushing unnecessary water – and money – down the drain.

Related Posts:

Ten Ways to Save Water Outside and Cut Your Water Bill by 50%
10 No-Brainer Ways to Use Water Wisely. Plus, a Bonus… 
Water. Use it Wisely.

The post Are You Using Your Secret Weapon to Save Water? appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Rain barrels have been popping up all over my neighborhood lately. I live in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., and water is expensive here.

It can also be scarce in the summer, especially in the hot months of July and August, when flowers are in full bloom and trees and bushes are supposed to be growing.

None of that happens if the plants don’t get enough water. In fact, I’ve had a lot of vegetables, azaleas, hydrangeas and even hundred-year-old oak trees die for lack of moisture.

Why Rain Barrels?

We’ve turned to rain barrels for three reasons:

1) They’re a free way to collect water.

2) They reduce our water bill.

3) They reduce run-off and help manage storm drain and sewer overflow.

How Does a Rain Barrel Work?

→ A rain barrel is a big barrel, usually a 55 gallon drum made from heavy duty plastic or wood, that collects and stores rainwater from a roof.

→ The barrel is attached to a gutter that drains water off a roof. So, rather than all the water draining down into the gutter then out into your yard or the street, it drains into a barrel you can use whenever you need water.

→ A lid keeps mosquitoes and debris out.

→ A hose connects to the bottom of the barrel to make it easy to drain the water out.

You can install a rain barrel at each corner of your house, a garage, a shed, a barn, or any other structure with a roof. This one my neighbor installed blends completely into his garden.

How Much Will a Rain Barrel Save You?

The U.S. EPA says rain barrels can save most homeowners about 1,300 gallons of water during the peak summer months.

Lawn and garden watering make up nearly 40% of total household water use during the summer, so using a rain barrel to get water for free is pretty much a no-brainer.

Plus, capturing rain water from your gutters rather than letting it flow aimlessly onto your property or into storm drains significantly reduces the impact of runoff into streams.

A rain barrel is an easy way to get clean, fresh water to use outdoors for free.

Where Can You Get a Rain Barrel?

Of course, we sell rain barrels in our very own Big Green Purse store on Amazon. Here are three we like:
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Most hardware stores and stores with gardening departments sell rain barrels, including Ace, Lowe’s, Home Depot and WalMart. You can also find them online if you search “where to buy rain barrels.”

Gardener’s Supply sells options that include a double barrel system with the couplings you need for your hoses. Plow & Hearth sells a beautiful terra cotta urn whose top serves as a decorative planter to hold flowers.

Rain barrels can cost over $100, and upwards of $200 or more. You’ll eventually save that money on your water bill. But you can also make your own water barrel. Care2 shows you how here.

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You’ve probably heard about your carbon footprint. That’s the amount of carbon dioxide you generate when you use fossil fuels, like coal, oil, gasoline, and natural gas. Your carbon footprint matters because it indicates what you’re contributing to the global problem of climate change.

Knowing your carbon footprint can help you figure out where you can save energy and shrink your footprint overall. If we all took our footprint down a few sizes, we’d make a big dent in the rate that climate change is increasing. The same goes for water.

Why Shrink the Size of Your Water Footprint?

In many parts of the U.S. and in many regions of the world, clean water supplies are shrinking so rapidly  that knowing our water footprint has become essential if we’re going to use the water we have wisely.

√ Only 1 percent of all the world’s water can be used for drinking (nearly 97% is salty, and the remaining 2% is tied up in the polar ice caps and glaciers).

√ There’s no “new” water. Though H2O cycles through a series of phases – as water on the ground or under ground, precipitation as rain, snow or sleet, and back again – the actual amount of water on earth is finite. We have just what we have, so we need to use it wisely.

√ You use more than you think. Right now, in America, on an average day, you’ll probably use about ninety gallons of water, which amounts to about 107,000 gallons for the year – enough to fill your bathtub almost 3,000 times.

We use water to grow lawns, wash dishes, rinse food, shower and shave, and let the tap run when we brush our teeth. About 14 percent leaks down the drain.

Older toilets waste more clean water in a single flush than many Africans use in an entire day.

Find and Fix Leaky Faucets & Toilets Before Drips Drain Your Wallet

We use water indirectly, too. Every product we buy has its own water footprint, and part of that footprint adds to ours every time we consume.

If you’re a “meat and potatoes” kind of person who loves to shop, your water footprint will be significantly larger than that of a vegetarian who is into recycling, swapping and sharing.

How to Measure Your Water Footprint

→ Read Your Water Bill. The easiest way to measure your direct water footprint is by reading your water bill. Most of us receive a monthly or quarterly bill from the utility company that supplies us with water. Look for these two pieces of vital information in every bill:

1) Your “average daily consumption” that is typical per person in your area.

2) How much water per person per day is being consumed in your household. My bill also shows how much water overall I used during the billing period, which in our area is every three months. I keep my bills for a year and compare them from bill to bill. Doing so, I can see both how much water I use and when I use the most.

My water usage is actually only about 50 gallons per person per day, compared to the “typical” person in our area, which is 70.

I also use almost twice as much water in the summer as I do in the winter, probably because I’m making more iced tea, taking more showers to cool off when it’s hot and muggy outside, and watering my garden.

Confused?

If you find your water bill confusing, you can try the clever Water Footprint Calculator created by Grace Communications Foundation. There are many calculators online, but I like this one because it’s got state-by-state options and the graphics are clever. When I took it, it calculated that I use about half as much water as the average American! It also suggests these ways to reduce the size of my water footprint even more:

7 Ways to Shrink Your Water Footprint

1) Take shorter showers. For every minute I shorten my shower, I can save 2.5 to 10 gallons of water (depending on how much water is coming out of the shower head).

2) Turn off the faucet when brushing teeth. That could save 4 or more gallons of water each day.

3) Use a dishwasher. Believe it or not, dishwashers are far more efficient than hand washing dishes, because you can wash so many more dishes at once. Hand washing one load of dishes can use as much as 20 gallons of water, compared to an energy-efficient dishwasher that clocks in at as little as 4.5 gallons. NOTE: If you must wash dishes by hand, don’t leave the water running nonstop. Fill a pot with rinse water, use a sponge to rinse off all the dishes, then soap them up and rinse them off.

4) Wash clothes less. I don’t mean that you should wear dirty clothes! But much of our attire – like blue jeans, sweaters, dress clothes – don’t need to be laundered if they’ve only been worn once. Washing less will extend the life of your clothes, as well.

5) Fix all leaks. And I mean all! Check bathroom, kitchen and bathtub faucets, toilet tanks, hose attachments outside, and any place else where water can just leak away. Fixing leaks will save you money on your water bill, too.

6) Replace your thirsty lawn with native plants that require less water. If you must have a lawn, water it deeply and during the cooler parts of the day, to promote healthier root growth and to make sure most of the water goes into the lawn rather than evaporating into the air. If planting new plants, choose those that can tolerate the amount of rainfall normal for your area. Don’t miss this post:

8 Best Natural Alternatives to Growing Grass

7) Eat less meat. I’m not much of a meat eater to begin with, which is good when it comes to water. FYI, it takes over 1700 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef, so switching to a plant-based diet helps reduce your water footprint significantly.

To get a sense of how much water other products use, check out this handy reference at National Geographic.

And remember: don’t just pay your water bill the next time it comes. Read it closely to see how much water you’re really using.

The post 7 Ways to Shrink the Size of Your Water Footprint appeared first on Big Green Purse.

If you think it’s “greener” to wash your car at home, here are three big reasons to think again.

1) Use more water. Most people who wash their cars at home do it with a rag in one hand and a hose running in the other. Depending on the flow of water coming out of the hose, you could end up using close to a hundred gallons of water to wash one car. Most automatic car washes use between 40 and 60 gallons of water per car, which still gets the job done because the water is sprayed using high-intensity nozzles that require less liquid to wash off the same amount of grime. At self-serve car washes – where customers use a coin-operated device like a spray gun to wash off their cars – water use per car may drop to as little as 12-18 gallons per vehicle.

2) Waste more water. If you wash your car on the driveway, on the street, or in a parking lot, the water you use will simply run off into the nearest sewer. A big advantage of a car wash is that it usually captures waste water, then either recycles it on the spot to re-use in the initial rinse-off cycle of the automatic wash, or sends it to a waste water treatment plant.

3) Pollute more water. Water that’s been used to wash a car can contain a wide array of pollutants. On top of all the dirt and grime on the car itself, there may also be automobile fluids, like oil, antifreeze and transmission fluid. Plus, conventional car wash detergents usually contain chemical compounds like hydrochloric acid, naphthalene, methylene chloride, sulfuric acid and phosphates. When all these chemicals run off into sewers, they ultimately end up in our waterways. They can pollute drinking water and cause problems for fish, frogs, turtles, birds and other wildlife.

Many states require commercial car washes to meet specific requirements for using water wisely. Get to know the car wash in your community and ask what steps they are taking to conserve and recycle water and to use non-toxic cleansers and detergents. Look for a car wash that adheres to the water-saving guidelines suggested by The International Car Wash Association. To be a certified WaterSaver company, the car wash must agree to limit automatic car washes to 40 gallons of potable/fresh water per car, and all water discharged must be routed to water treatment centers or a septic system. Plus, the car wash must meet all local pollution control criteria.

If you do decide to wash your car at home, be water-smart and limit pollution, too.  Here’s how:

√ Don’t keep the hose running. Instead, fill a bucket with soap and water and use a sponge to wash one section of the car at a time. Rinse using a high-intensity nozzle that you can easily turn on and off. Pour dirty water down your utility sink drain or even the toilet, so it will eventually end up at a water treatment facility.

√ Park the car on gravel or a lawn, rather than on a driveway. You can minimize run-off by washing the car on a surface that can absorb the water.

√ Use non-toxic cleansers that will cut grime and grease without polluting the water. The biodegradable, fragrance-free, phosphate-free liquid soap you use to wash your dishes will do the job just as well on your car. Here are our top 10 tips for healthy, green car care.

√ Add a little “elbow” grease. Use reusable sponges with a soft scrubber surface on one side to get rid of persistent dirt and crud like bird doo without scratching the paint.

√ Wipe up the interior with fragrance-free and plant-based cleansers. Most car washes – even the ones that use water wisely – still spray industrial-grade cleansers on the inside of the car. Instead, opt for plant-based sprays that won’t give you a headache or otherwise make you ill.  Leave the windows open for a few minutes after cleaning to air out the car.

Here’s More on Green Car Care:

Healthy Green Car Care: Top 10 Tips

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How much money are your leaky faucets and toilets costing you? And how much water are they wasting?

I asked Karen Wirth, the education and outreach coordinator for EPA’s WaterSense program, why we should bother to fix leaky faucets when it can be such a pain, and expensive, too, if you need to call a plumber. Here’s what she had to say (and I think it’s pretty convincing):

You might be able put up with the occasional drip-drip-drip after you turn off the water from your morning shower. Or think nothing of having to jiggle the handle after you flush to quiet your old toilet.

But these easy-to-fix leaks could be wasting more than 10,000 gallons of water each year—what you use to wash 270 loads of laundry—and worse yet, adding 10 percent to your water bill.

Maybe you’re intimidated by the thought of tackling leaks at home, or think it will be expensive. But in many cases, repairs don’t require a major investment or a plumbing license.

Take toilets, for example. Leaks are usually easy to hear. You can also identify silent leaks by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank at the back of your toilet. Wait 10 minutes. If color appears in the bowl, you have a leak. (Make sure you flush afterward to avoid staining!)

In many cases, a rotting or faulty rubber toilet flapper is the culprit, and can be easily purchased for a few dollars at any hardware store and installed without tools. A running or broken toilet may be a larger problem and may require a licensed plumber; HomeAdvisor estimates that hiring a plumber to fix a toilet can cost $120 to $190.

But if you take into account the fact that a running toilet can waste as much as 21,600 gallons of water per month and cost your family more than $2,000 extra in annual water charges, that’s a small time and money investment for the payback. Consider using the Green Plumbers® locator to find a professional who has completed accreditation training in environmental issues and water-efficient technology.

EPA’s Fix a Leak Week

To inspire you to spring into action to make your home leak-free, EPA’s WaterSense® program has declared March 16 through 22, 2015, Fix a Leak Week. Here are three easy steps you can take this week to make leaks less of a drain on our natural resources—and YOUR Green Purse:

1. Check. Start your leak check by looking at your January or February water bill. If your winter monthly use was higher than 12,000 gallons for a family of four, you probably have a serious leak. You can also check your water meter (it’s usually outside the house) before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the reading has changed, something’s leaking.

2. Twist. Over the course of a year, a faucet that’s leaking just one drip per second can waste the amount of water needed to take more than 180 showers! Twist and tighten pipe connections with a wrench, or use pipe tape to seal where showerheads are shedding. To save even more water without a noticeable difference in flow, twist on a WaterSense labeled faucet aerator in your bathroom.

3. Replace. If you can’t fix the leaks with your own DIY skills, it might be time to replace the fixture. Look for the WaterSense label (above left) associated with toilets, showerheads, and bathroom sink faucets and accessories that are independently certified to use at least 20 percent less water and perform as well as or better than standard models. That means you won’t waste time double-flushing or waiting for a weak spray to wash your hair.

Need more inspiration? Visit the WaterSense website to learn more about how to find and fix leaks or watch this simple animated short video. And if you do take the plunge and repair a leaky fixture, tweet a photo with #IFixLeaks to show your skills at saving water and money!

Karen Wirth is EPA’s WaterSense education and outreach coordinator. She has worked in a variety of program areas at EPA, focusing for the past 17 years on water issues.

RELATED POSTS:

Are You Taking A WaterSense Shower?
Ten Ways to Save Water Outside and Cut Your Water Bill by 50%
My New Water-Saving Toilet

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