Get Water Tight

Earth Day's 36th anniversary was April 22nd and no one who has lived in Texas for the last several years like me can doubt the need for water conservation in our drought-prone state.

"We've seen the lake levels plummet and we've lived with mandatory lawn-watering schedules," said local writer Cathy Frisinger.

Weather patterns aside, long-term water conservation is essential, says Ann Vickers, author of The Handbook of Water Use and Conservation, because of our ever-increasing population.

"By 2050 the country is going to be over 400 million people," she writes. "Desalinization is highly polluting and is not a solution except in very limited use."

According to Vickers the good news in all this is because we waste so much water there are many ways to reduce usage and we will have ample supplies to meet our needs.

Here's 26 ways to start conserving water now, inside and outside your home:

Kitchen:
1. Wash dishes in the dishwasher rather than by hand.
2. Scrape dishes rather than rinsing them.
3. Wait till the dishwasher is full before turning it on.
4. Install an aerator on your kitchen sink.
5. Keep a container of water in the refrigerator rather than running the faucet and waiting for the water to get cold.
6. Rinse vegetables in a pan partially filled with water rather than under running water and reuse the water for watering plants.
7. Defrost food in the refrigerator or microwave rather than running water over it.

Laundry:
8. Replace an old clothes washer with an Energy Star washer.
9. In general, run the clothes washer only when it is full.
Bathroom:
10. Take a shower of no more than five minutes rather than a bath.
11. Install a water-efficient shower head.
12. Do not leave the faucet running while brushing teeth or shaving.
13. Do not use the toilet as a wastebasket.
14. Twenty percent of all toilets leak so check yours.