Water Management

Conservation NOW!

Historically, there’s been such an abundance of fresh water in most areas of the US that we’ve tended to take plentiful home water use for granted. Great rivers, lakes and forested watersheds provided abundant fresh water to most areas of the country—until recently.

Increasing agricultural demand, population growth, and drought have brought us to the point where in many areas of the country we now face serious, recurring shortfalls of drinkable water. In some areas, critical water shortages now exist. Experts tell us this problem will only get worse.

As consumers of hundreds—and sometimes even thousands—of gallons of water per household per day, each of us can contribute directly to mitigating this crisis by conserving water at home.

As with power management, water conservation begins with awareness. A water management system that reports daily household use on your tablet or smart phone will help make this easier to do.

Once you’ve established a baseline, you can use water management techniques that are integrated into an overall smart home automation system—to inform you when your conservation goals have been met. This way, you can conserve water while meeting your home and personal needs.

The first steps are simple—like installing low-flush toilets and low-flow shower heads. Then consider an instant hot water heater located in or near the kitchen and bathrooms, if they are not already located near the main water heater. This will save all of that cold and not-quite-hot water you watch going down the drain while waiting to shower, shave, or wash your hands. It also saves on the energy needed to heat that water!

And don’t forget to check for leaks. The main culprits are running toilets, dripping faucets (inside the home and outside), and poorly-adjusted sprinkler systems for the garden or lawn (including inaccurately programmed timers). When you think you’re done, check the water meter with everything turned off, to confirm that water use has stopped—and your home is leak-free.

Then move on to more fine-tuned solutions. In the garden, for example, adjust the sprinkler head patterns, flow, and timing, so they’ll get the job done using the minimum amount of water.

Some jurisdictions now restrict outside watering to sunrise and sunset hours, when evaporation losses are minimal. Whether required or not, it’s a conservation-savvy practice you should adopt. For additional water savings, consider committing to a plan to transition to drought-resistant plants in your landscape.

Is a shower timer too radical? In Naval submarines, sailors get just a few minutes of water flow to shower. Does your teen-ager really need half an hour?

Most importantly, make the monitoring and control of water-consuming devices a part of your integrated smart home plan, so they become integrated into your daily (or weekly) review. This way, you can adjust schedules, times of day, temperatures—and even seasons—to meet changing family needs and weather conditions.

Fine tuning your water use to your lifestyle and to the new environmental realities will conserve water and save you money. So everyone benefits.