Saving Water

This passage describes easy ways to help conserve water.

Lexile Level: 1080L

Categories: Adventure

If you have a dripping faucet in your house, you need to fix it quickly. A faucet that drips one drop every second wastes 2,700 gallons of water per year! Fixing a leaky faucet is usually simple and costs little. If you have a leak in your toilet, you're wasting even more water, as much as 60 gallons a day, or more than 20,000 gallons a year. To find out if your toilet leaks, put some food coloring in the tank on the back, not in the bowl. If the coloring appears in the toilet bowl, you have a leak. You should flush the toilet right away or the food coloring will stain it. Outside, never let the water hose run longer than needed to wash the car or water the garden, and be sure to turn it off completely when you're finished. Even a small water hose can use up to 600 gallons of water in an hour. Leaving a hose on overnight can waste twice as much water as most families use in a month!