How to save water in an apartment with a meter

In my opinion, a water meter should be in every home. Only seeing the real consumption figures, many begin to think about the careful use of water resources. Therefore, today we will talk about how to save water in an apartment where there is already a meter.

Drop by drop - and the ocean

Perhaps older readers remember this song from the cartoon from the time of perestroika. Many have begun to understand its relevance only now, when the increase in the cost of a communal apartment is running in a race with a decrease in income.

Saving water should begin precisely with the search for such "drops" with which your family budget also leaks. It could be a leaky faucet, a leaky pipe, or a broken toilet cistern mechanism.

More or less serious leaks will help to detect a simple way. Leaving home in the morning, write down the meter readings, and check in the evening. If they have changed, it means that you have a large loss of water in your apartment. If you remain in place - do not rush to rejoice, because the counter may simply not respond to small "digging".

The results of my little experiment showed the following. If one drop per second falls from the tap, then a little less than a liter of water is collected in an hour. This is about 22 liters per day, 660 per month, almost 8,000 per year. Needless to say, if we are talking about a trickle, and not a drop, then the numbers will be much larger. Here is the ocean. Therefore, eliminate even minimal leaks in an apartment with a meter.

If your pressure is constantly jumping or it is too large, you can save a lot by putting it on the input to the apartment.

How to save water in the kitchen

The use of water in the kitchen, one way or another, is associated with food. It turns out that the less you cook and eat at home, the less consumption. Sometimes lunch at a nearby canteen or fast food restaurant will cost even less than home-cooked. Plus saving time. True, this option is more suitable for bachelors and childless couples, so let's still go back to our kitchen and see how we can reduce water consumption.

1. When choosing a sink, give preference to one that has two trays. It opens up many more opportunities for saving water. In one compartment, you can use a flowing jet, and close the other with a cork and use it to wash vegetables or dishes.

2. Use special water-saving faucet attachments. They are able to reduce water consumption by one and a half times.

3. Train yourself to fill a pot or kettle with exactly the amount of water needed for cooking or making tea. By pouring "with a margin", you waste not only water, but also the gas or light used for heating.

4. Everyone knows that microwave ovens have a defrost function. But for some reason, many, in the old fashioned way, put frozen meat in the sink, under running water. Like, why waste electricity? It is commendable, of course, but since when did water become free? Believe me, the microwave will do its job faster and more economically. And the best option is to leave the meat overnight in the refrigerator.

5. Burnt or dried food residues should not be tried to be washed by zealous rubbing under a hot stream. It will be much more economical to fill the dishes with water and leave for a while in the sink. After an hour, washing it will become much easier.

6. It's amazing how many housewives wash dishes under the maximum pressure of water. At the same time, they are sincerely surprised when they find out that up to 100 liters of water are spent on washing dishes after 4 people. Therefore, if you want to save water in an apartment with a meter, you need to immediately get rid of this habit. Close the sink with a cork, fill it with warm water, wash the dishes, and then just rinse them with running cold water with minimal pressure. Similarly, you can wash vegetables and fruits.

7. Many people buy dishwashers to save time and get rid of routine work. And only then do they learn about one more of their pleasant features: much lower than the "manual" washing. Modern dishwashers spend from 10 to 15 liters per cycle. For maximum savings, use it only at full load, optimally distributing items.

Saving water in the bathroom

Some of the above tips apply to the bathroom as well. For example, the use of water-saving nozzles (including shower heads) or sink plugs. The following little tricks will help you save water as much as possible in an apartment with a meter.

1. Carefully check the toilet for leaks. You can do this by adding a little dye to the tank. If the water in the toilet changes color after a while, then the system is faulty, it needs to be repaired or replaced.

2. Old toilet bowls were not designed to save water, so every time they ruthlessly pour 10-13 liters into the sewer. Replace it with a more modern one, which needs 5 liters for a high-quality flush, and some even 3. The two-button flush is the greatest invention of mankind, which saves a significant amount of water.

3. If it is not possible to replace the toilet bowl, you can reduce the volume of flushed water using “folk” methods. Place one or more plastic bottles filled with water in the tank, securing them so that they do not hang out and interfere with the operation of the mechanism. By displacing 2-3 liters of water in this way, you will reduce the volume of the drain by the same number of liters. At the same time, you can demonstrate to children the practical application of the law of Archimedes.

4. We already talked about the fact that a shower is three times more economical than a bath. This is true with a slight amendment: the shower should be "quick". Consider for yourself, about 150 liters of water will fit in a standard bath (along with you). A shower consumes up to 15 liters per minute. It turns out that if you bathe for more than 10 minutes, singing arias or playing with soap bubbles, then it will be more economical to do it in the bath than in the shower.

5. When taking a shower, try not only to reduce the time spent under it, but also turn off the water when it is not needed. Wet - turned off the tap, lathered, then opened. Do the same in the sink, while shaving or brushing your teeth.

6. If you need to rinse your hands, open the tap not completely, but only partially. Try to use cold water more than hot.

7. Do not confuse the trash can with the toilet, throwing everything in it and flushing it every time.