Skip to content

Water Conservation


Water: A Precious Resource

Water is fast becoming a scarce resource. In addition, water delivered by public water utilities requires much energy – moving water from reservoirs to destinations which often means multiple stages of pumping, treatment before usage and treatment after usage. In California, water service accounts for over 20% of the State’s electric usage. Hence conserving the use of water will greatly reduce energy usage as well.

The pie chart shows the national average breakdown of indoor water usage in a home. Landscape irrigation varies fairly widely from region to region. It can account for 15% to 60% of total residential water usage. In California, it is roughly 40%. Here are some areas to conserve water

  • Fix all water leaks. One of the most common one is leakage from toilets. Changing worn out flaps is easy and effective
  • Install low-flow faucets and shower heads – 1.5 gallons per minute or less
  • Install low-flow toilets – 1.28 gallons per flush or less
  • Install water efficient laundry machines
  • Install on-demand hotwater recirculator
  • Use drought tolerant plants in landscape; install smart irrigation and drip irrigation systems; use efficient sprinkler heads

The Environmental Protection Agency has established a program called This forum provides you with resources about home renovation, improvement, makeover and repair topics such as air condition, bathroom design, cabinet replacement, construction, drainage, drought tolerant plants, flooring, furniture, home design, home insulation, hot water heater, kitchen design, landscape replacement, low flow toilets, moisture management, mold removal, paint selection, plumbing, rain water collection, remodel planning, saving water, solar hot water, solar panel, solar system, water conservation, and many others. While we focus on issues in California, particularly in the San Francisco Bay Area, San Jose, Oakland, Berkeley, Campbell, Contra Costa, Fremont, Hillsdale, Lafayette, Marin, Mill Valley, Pleasanton, Sacramento, San Mateo, Solano, most information is applicable in all parts of USA as well as the rest of the world.