Project Ideas: Tweak Your Leaks
The long-range forecasts for 2009 suggest another hot and dry summer. Fortunately, there are many things we can do to save water. Water conservation will help extend the reserves of our state’s water resources for homes, businesses, agriculture, and the environment. Estimates vary, but each person uses about 80-100 gallons of water per day. That is why, in these days of water conservation, being proactive is needed more than ever. Your workplace is a good place to practice water conservation, because it is a place where others can see and be inspired by your example.
 Through this project, your office will:
- Become more conscious of potential sources of water waste
- Help contribute to the state’s water conservation efforts
- Extend the life of our water resources
- Save money
- Learn about sustainable water usage
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Quick Facts: Making It Real
- Many North Carolinian municipalities nearly ran out of water during the drought of 2007.
- North Carolina’s ten most populated cities used over 86 billion gallons of water in 2008. That is an average of over 34,000 gallons/person in 2008.
- The average household spends as much as $500 per year on its water and sewer bill. By making just a few simple changes to use water more efficiently, they could save about $170 per year.
- Did you know that toilet flushing accounts for 38 percent of household water use and that a leaking toilet can be one of the greatest sources of water waste in the home?
Making an Impact: Equivalents you can use to set goals
- Fixing a faucet leaking at the rate of one drop per second will save 2,700 gallons per year.
- Letting your faucet run for five minutes uses about as much energy as letting a 60-watt light bulb run for 14 hours.
- If your toilet has a constant leak, you could be wasting about 200 gallons of water every day. That would be like flushing your toilet more than 50 times for no reason!
- Fixing a toilet with a small leak can save somewhere around 22 gallons per day. This translates into about 8,000 gallons per year of wasted water.
- If 1,000,000 buildings with 5 faucets each dripped once per minute, the annual water waste would total 104,147,952 gallons per year.
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