By Merrie Beth Neely, chapter housing specialist

So many of us live in areas of the country where water is not an everyday conservation concern. However, water conservation can benefit you financially as well as preserving the environment! All the water that comes into your house through a faucet, refrigerator, dishwasher, washing machine, toilet bowl, or to your outdoor hosebib is potable “drinking” water, and it has to meet certain minimum standards which requires costly and time-consuming treatment with chemicals, ozone, UV light and filters. Kappa Deltas, particularly House Corporations, can save water and money by having a water audit performed. Some utility companies will perform them for you – check out what your utility offers! Or you can do it yourself with free WaterWiser water audit computer software from the American Water Works Association available here at the American Water Works Association Web site.

The installation of low flow (<1.6L) toilets can dramatically lower the water usage in a residential facility, and there are rebates from local utility companies that can compensate for the somewhat higher cost of these fixtures. In most areas of the country, low flow fixtures are the only ones available for purchase and use in new construction or for retrofits. If you just don’t have the currency to make this upgrade now, you can make traditional tank toilets a little lighter on the water use by installing a couple of half gallon plastic milk jugs filled with sand, fishtank gravel, plaster of paris or concrete into the tank. Even large rocks from the driveway or garden can help displace some water in that tank, but don’t use bricks or anything that will degrade when submerged in the tank or it’ll be a big mess. Some toilets have dual-flush mechanisms where you can select the volume of water needed to get rid of the waste. Unfortunately a lot of university-owned facilities have tankless toilets that flush gallons and gallons of water on each use. It seems that preventing vandalism instead of water conservation is the concern for those installations, or they wouldn’t be used. The automatic flush mechanisms, while perhaps adding convenience, do not assist as much with water conservation because the slightest movement can trip the sensors causing unnecessary flushing. BUT, those same sensors placed on water faucets DO help a lot to save water!

Low flow shower heads are another great water saving device and again many local utilities offer them free, or provide incentives for their purchase. However, I speak from personal experience when I say that not all of these shower heads are good alternatives if you have to take a longer shower just to get that soap rinsed off you because the water pressure was too little. There are many low flow/high pressure models on the market and they are also quite affordable, so it can pay to test out several before settling on one type to install on all the showers in a chapter house setting.

Of course we all know that you should not use the dishwasher or washing machine until you have a full load and using cool water on those clothes can save on your gas or electric bill and possibly reduce wear and tear. Not letting the faucet and shower run when you’re brushing your teeth or busy elsewhere in the bathroom are other great tips our mothers and grandmothers have passed on for many years now – but they bear repeating. Ask the creative chapter members to design and post some really cute reminder signs in the bathrooms to remind residents to be mindful of ways to conserve water while brushing teeth, etc.

Have you ever driven past a business that is watering its lawn and seen a geyser of water shooting out of a broken sprinkler head? – or worse yet – spraying the pavement with a long river straight to the gutter! Another major use of potable water use is lawn watering. Using shallow wells, pumping directly from lakes and ponds, or using reclaimed water (partially treated wastewater – but not sewer water – that is available for reuse rather than discharged into rivers and streams) for your landscaping irrigation can reduce utility costs but may not conserve water. Landscape watering should occur very early n the morning or late in the evening. Night-time water can promote fungal growth on some plants. Avoiding watering during sunlight hours prevents that precious water from mostly evaporating right off the plants – plus most plants go to great biological lengths of their own to conserve water and do not uptake water in the heat of the day. So daytime sprinkling is more than a waste of water, but also of time and money! Sprinkling systems should be evaluated at least yearly to be sure they are in good working order, with no leaks or missing heads, and to re-aim those heads that mysteriously end up pointed toward the siding or the street. At least twice a year it is a good idea to verify your sprinklers water delivery. This can easily be accomplished by placing several tunafish cans (lids removed) in the different sprinkler zones of your yard and letting the sprinklers run for the pre-programmed duration. If you were shooting for ½” of water to be sprayed in your turfgrass area in a 30 minute period – then your tuna cans should all be ½” full when the zone turns off. If they aren’t, you – or your lawn professional - should adjust the sprinklers coverage area or check to be sure that water pressure and flow to the heads is not impeded. Checking this often identifies areas where water is being wasted and helps to get it fixed early before too much money and water goes down the drain!

Different plants in your landscape require different amounts of water – and this can vary by season too, with much less water being required in the winter – maybe not even requiring the use of sprinklers for several months of the year! Landscaping should be placed so that plants with similar water needs are grouped together – this allows that zonation of your sprinkler system mentioned earlier – and the wise use of drip irrigation or soaker hoses are always the best water saving irrigation choices. Xeriscaping – the exclusive use of drought- tolerant plants that are preferably native to the region - is really the best option to eliminate the need for landscape irrigation at all – and local cooperative extension service or native plant nurseries can be useful sources for the intrepid Kappa Delta House Corporation looking to become the Green Leader in their Greek community with a waterwise and native friendly yard!

Resources to Check out:

The EPA’s Watersense guide to water conservation

The National Resources Defense Council’s Greenliving Toolkit