A slow faucet leak that produces a steady drip - 100 drops per minute - wastes about 350 gallons of water per month. A faucet that leaks in a small stream wastes 2,000 to 2,700 gallons of water per month.
A running toilet can waste 2 gallons of water per minute. A silent leak can waste 7,000 gallons of water per month. To find a silent leak, put food coloring in the toilet tank. Do not flush. Wait ten minutes and look into the toilet bowl. If there is any coloring in the bowl you have a silent leak.
Installing a shutoff valve or a showerhead with a shutoff feature in your shower can save a lot of water, and therefore a lot of money. It will also maintain the temperature setting, unlike turning the water off at the faucet control. If you shut off the water while lathering, shaving, etc. for five minutes per shower that you would normally have it running, you will save approximately 12.5 gallons of water. If you have 4 people in your household showering once a day each, that is 50 gallons a day, which equals 18,250 gallons per year of water saved!
Instead of letting the faucet leak or the toilet run, give us a call and let us give you a free estimate on the repairs. In almost every case, it will cost you more money to let the problem go and pay the water usage charges than to have us fix it. Plus, fixing the problem helps the planet by conserving water.
