NHDES Encourages Residents to Stop Wasting Water
Celebrate Fix a Leak Week - March 17 to 23, 2014
Concord, NH - The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services wants to encourage residents to celebrate National Fix a Leak Week by not wasting water from leaking household faucets and toilets. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) - We're for Water campaign, Americans waste more than 1 trillion gallons of water from household leaks each year.
"Leaking toilets and other household fixtures are responsible for approximately 13.7% of indoor water use" noted NHDES Commissioner, Tom Burack. "The average annual water bill for a single family home in NH is about $415, so homeowners could save on average $60 dollars on their water bill just by fixing leaks in their home!"
As a WaterSense partner, NHDES is encouraging consumers to find and fix leaks to save water, energy, and money! It's simple, you have to do is check, twist, and replace:
- Check for leaks. Look for dripping faucets, showerheads, sprinklers, and other fixtures. Also check for toilets with silent leaks by putting a few drops of food coloring into the tank, waiting 10 minutes, and seeing if color appears in the bowl before you flush. Don't forget to check irrigation systems and spigots too.
- Twist and tighten hose and pipe connections. To save water without a noticeable difference in flow in your bathroom, twist on a WaterSense labeled faucet aerator.
- Replace the fixture if necessary. Look for WaterSense labeled models, which are independently certified to use 20 percent less water and perform as well as or better than standard models.
In many cases, fixture replacement parts are inexpensive and can pay for themselves quickly and can be installed by handy do-it-yourselfers or local plumbing professionals. To find tips on how to find leaks and easy instructions for repairing leaks, as well as to win prizes for checking for leaksgo to the "A-Z List" at www.des.nh.gov and scroll down to "We're for Water".