The Earth is unique among the stars. Our little blue rock is teeming with life and possibility unlike any other planet we’ve discovered so far. A major contributing factor to its ability to sustain life is water. However, that water — specifically fresh water — is finite. If the course of human advancement and resultant climate change isn’t altered, the Earth’s supply of fresh water will dwindle and life will be irrevocably altered.
Combating this resource depletion takes robust conservation efforts. That includes how consumers utilize water. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to live more sustainably, reduce water wastage and diminish our individual impacts on the planet we call home. 
Below, we’ll go over a few water conservation practices anyone and everyone can implement in their own lives.
Perform a Water Audit
One of the first things to do when working to reduce water waste is to assess how much your household consumes. That way, you could identify areas of improvement or take steps to address any problems you find. A great way to go about this is performing a water audit. Designed to check for overall water usage, an audit can help identify high or unusual levels of needless waste. It could be that a pipe in the basement is leaking, or a bathroom faucet has a steady drip. Whatever the case may be, these issues need to be found and fixed as soon as possible.
An audit is also constructive in determining waste from youreveryday behaviors. Long showers, letting the tap run when brushing your teeth or frequent baths with the water filled up to the tub’s brim add up to a lot of excess. If you’re serious about reducing your indoor water usage, it’s important to assess these habits and alter them as needed. Only then could you see a considerable decrease in water usage as well as lowered utility bills.
Update Appliances and Fixtures
Just like certain behaviors can generate a great deal of water waste, so too can faulty or outdated appliances. Whether it’s a washing machine corroded from years of use or a toilet that constantly runs, these appliances and fixtures need to be either modified or replaced. Otherwise, you’re letting a lot of water —and money — go down the drain.
Homeowners are encouraged to invest in energy- and water-efficient models. Installing an ENERGY STAR certified dishwasher, washer, dryer and all those other major home appliances could significantly decrease your utility usage and environmental impact. Of course, updating everything all at once would hardly be in the budget.
Instead, consider making a steady string of small changes throughout the house. It could be installing a low-flow showerhead and an ultra-low flush toilet at first and moving up to bigger projects, like connecting a water softener that tackles hard water problems, ultimately cutting back on water use, plumbing maintenance and more.
Brush Up Your Backyard Water Usage
Many homeowners take pride in the outside appearance of their home. If you want to maintain curb appeal but still conserve water, don’t worry. There are ample water-saving steps you can take when it comes to your lawn and garden. Here are a few tips to get you started.
• Avoid overwatering — an established lawn needs only oneinch of water each week during the growing season.
• Make sure your sprinklers or hoses are only hitting the plant life, not going to waste on the sidewalk or driveway.
- Utilize soaker hoses or drip irrigation.
- Switch to drought-resistant landscaping.
- Consider greatly reducing the size of your lawn.
- Collect rainwater in barrels or catch runoff from your downspouts to use for watering.
- Consult a nearby nursery for the best native, drought-proof plants.
Making Water Conservation a Priority
These are just some of the approaches you can take to conserve water at home. If you want additional tips on water conservation, there are numerous resources available from the Environmental Protection Agency and other reliable sources. You should also check out the accompanying resource from Diversified Technology for further water-saving tips to usethroughout the house.
Author bio: Tom Tobin is President of Diversified Technology. Tobin has more than 30 years of experience serving municipalities and municipal utilities. After representing Diversified Billing’s predecessor software for 15 years, he bought the rights to the software and founded Diversified Technology in 2007.
For the last 15 years he has grown the business to serve more than 350 clients that use the software to generate more than 7 million utility bills annually.
