 Water Use: Drop It When It's Hot!
When the mercury rises on your thermometer, so does your water
use. “Peak” water use describes the time of year when
residential water use is at its highest, usually in late July or
early August, depending on where you live. From lawn watering to
car washing to filling backyard pools to even washing beach towels
more frequently—it all adds up to about four times as much
water or more than you use the rest of the year!
Why Should Peak Water Use Matter to Me?
In addition to putting a strain on local
water supplies, peak water use
can hurt your wallet; some utilities charge more per gallon during
peak season or add a “summer overage” fee to compensate
for heavier demands on supply and to encourage efficiency. The
good news is WaterSense has strategies to help you beat the water
use peak in the heat and keep down utility costs.
How Can I Beat the Peak?
We can all reduce our peak water use by watering only as needed,
washing full loads of laundry, and using more efficient plumbing
fixtures. In fact, WaterSense labeled toilets and faucets helped
consumers save more than 9.3 billion gallons of water and more
than $55 million in water and sewer bills in 2008 alone. The WaterSense
label is an easy way to identify plumbing fixtures that use at
least 20 percent less water, even during peak water use season.
Here are some more facts and tactics to try:
- The average American home uses about 260 gallons of water per day; however,
during peak season the average household can use about 1,000 gallons of
water in a day. Some homes use as much as 3,000 gallons on a peak day! That’s
equivalent to the water a garden hose left running for nearly 8 hours would
waste.
- Water landscapes only when needed; very early morning or evening is best.
Peak hourly use usually occurs between 6:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., with a secondary
peak between 6:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.
- Wash only full loads of laundry and dishes, and scrape dishes off instead
of rinsing when loading the dishwasher.
- For a summer refreshment, keep a pitcher of water in the fridge instead
of running the tap until it’s cold.
- Put your favorite handy person to work fixing
leaks around the home,
which can waste about 200 gallons per week.
Learn more about how WaterSense is
helping Americans save water.
See our 2008 Accomplishments
Report
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