For Substantial Water Savings, Begin in the Bathroom By Emily Landes, Livable

By Emily Landes, Livable

With most residents now in their homes for the bulk of the day, utility bills of all types are on the rise. But the increased emphasis on personal hygiene may mean that water bills in particular are likely to be impacted by the shelter in place order. On top of that, years of drought conditions plus deferred maintenance on an aging infrastructure add up to water rates that continue rising for the foreseeable future.

Just because rates and usage are up that doesn’t mean owners need to sit back and accept ever-higher water bills. There are a number of easy, economical bathroom fixes that will cut down on water usage. You may not be able to access your units to make any of these updates right now, but with many motivated retailers offering big discounts it’s a good time to buy water-efficient fixtures to install after restrictions are lifted.

Tackling Toilets

Leaky and inefficient toilets, showers and sinks are the biggest contributors to wasteful water use. In fact, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program, toilets alone account for nearly 30 percent of the average home’s indoor water consumption.

water bills in particular are likely to be impacted by the shelter in place order

If you have older toilets, they may be wasting water with every flush. Toilets installed before 1977 use 5 gallons per flush, and those installed between 1977 and 1994 use 3.5 gallons per flush. Most toilets installed after 1994 use 1.6 gallons per flush, which is a huge improvement on the older models but still 20 percent more water than a new WaterSense-labeled toilet.

These toilets, approved by the EPA and independently certified to meet a high bar in both performance and efficiency, use only 1.28 gallons per flush. Depending on the age of your existing toilets, replacing them with WaterSense models could reduce water use by up to 60 percent per flush.

The EPA estimates that a toilet upgrade can save the average family 13,000 gallons of water per year. Obviously, those savings will be even larger in a multiunit building when toilets are replaced building wide. Plus, the SoCal Water$mart program offers a $40 rebate for each high-efficiency toilet installed in buildings with five or more units.

Shower and Sink Savings

More savings can be found in combination tubs that use a diverter to switch between bath and shower functionality. Older diverters often leak and can be easily replaced with newer models for substantial savings.

Find out your leak rate by putting a bucket under the tub spout while the shower is running. After one minute, measure the water collected in the bucket to determine the diverter leak rate. If the bucket collects more than one-tenth of a gallon of water, it should be replaced.

In addition, replacing older showerheads with WaterSense showerheads can save the average family 2,900 gallons of water a year, according to the EPA. Plus, since these showerheads also reduce water heating demands, there is a secondary energy savings as well. The EPA estimates that if every home in the U.S. installed WaterSense showerheads, we could save more than $2.2 billion in water utility bills and more than $2.6 billion in water heating costs.

Many of the complaints about low water flow from these aerated showerheads are actually caused by scale build up. When possible, inspect aerators to make sure that the flow is not restricted. Cleaning the existing aerator, or replacing it if necessary, can go a long way towards making sure tenants are happy and saving water without complaint.

The same maintenance is needed on bathroom sink aerators, as these simple accessories can reduce waterflow by 30 percent without impacting performance— if they are kept clean. But, just as in the shower, scale accrual can occur due to mineral build up. Without regular maintenance, tenants get frustrated and often remove these aerators to increase flow rate.

Installing tamper-proof watersaving accessories throughout your bathrooms and following up with maintenance checks so that the devices are behaving as they should, will go a long way towards assuring that residents comply with your conservation goals.

Emily Landes is the content director at Livable, a smart billing software company with products designed to save money, as well as the environment. To find out what Livable can do for your property, check out livable. com or call 877-789-6027.