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1 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate NEWS NOW Our View: Cheers and Jeers ... Stouts fire still growing, but in a good way ... Man suspected of sexually abusing child ... Our View: Cheers and Jeers ... Stouts fire still growing, but in a good way ... Man suspected of sexually abusing child ... How you can conserve water at home Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Aug. 3, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted Aug. 3, 2015 at 12:01 AM » RELATED CONTENT • Gov. Brown orders Oregon agencies to cut water use » Social News Monitor your water bill.  Checking your water bill for unusually high water use can alert you to leaks in your home. Periodically check for water leaks . Check your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak. Common household leaks include running toilets, dripping faucets and other leaking valves. Test your toilet. Remove the tank lid, then drop 1 dye tablet or 10 drops of food coloring into the tank. Put the lid back on the toilet tank and come back in 10 to 15 minutes. If the water in the bowl has changed color, you have a leak. Grab a wrench.  Repairing a leaky faucet is simple, inexpensive, and can save up to 140 gallons of water per week. Leaks are often caused by faulty washers than be replaced typically for less than $1. Wash only full loads.  The average American household uses about 23 percent of its water running the clothes washer and dishwasher. Just one partially full load can waste five to 10 gallons of water. Wash fruits and vegetables in a pan of water.  Avoid continually running water to clean those fruits and veggies. You can also save water by composting your food, instead of running it down the garbage disposal. Defrost food in the fridge.  Rather than using running water to thaw food, for water efficiency as well as food safety, defrost food in the refrigerator. Keep drinking water in the fridge.  Instead of running the tap until the water turns cold, keep a pitcher on hand in the fridge. This way, every drop of water goes down you and not the drain. For those ice cubes that hit the floor instead of your glass, don’t toss them. Instead, drop them in a house plant. Turn off the water faucet while brushing your teeth.  Doing so will save up to 4 gallons per minute. That’s up to 200 gallons a week for a family of four. Plug the sink on purpose . When shaving, plug the sink instead of running the water to rinse your razor and save up to 300 gallons per month. Flush only when necessary.  Don’t use the toilet to flush tissues. Drop tissues in the trash instead of flushing them. Shorten your shower.  Trimming a minute or two off your normal shower time can save up to 150 gallons per month. Keeping the shower time to less than 5 minutes can save the average household up to 1,000 gallons per month. Turning the water off while washing your hair can save up to 150 gallons a month. Retrofit old showerheads, faucets, and aerators.  You can save up to 40 percent of the water used for showering by replacing an older showerhead with a water-efficient model. This can save the average family 700 gallons of water each year, equivalent to 40 showers. Replace that old toilet.  By replacing old, inefficient toilets with more water-efficient models, the average family can reduce water used for toilets by 20 to 60 percent — or close to 13,000 gallons of water conserved every year. Consider a dual-flush toilet.  It has two flush options: a half-flush for liquid waste and a full-flush for solid waste. A standard water-efficient toilet uses approximately 1.6 gallons per flush, which is about the amount of water a dual-flush toilet uses for the solid waste option. The half-flush option for liquid waste only uses about 0.9 gallon per flush. An average family of four can save approximately 7,000 gallons per year by switching to a dual-flush toilet. Determine how much water you use.  Access the Alliance for Water Efficiency’s water calculator to get an estimate of how much water your household uses. The calculator also compares your estimated water usage to an average home and a highly efficient home. Visit http://www.home-water-works.org/calculator. — Source: Oregon Water Resources Department MailTribune.com Writer Posted Aug. 3, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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