See how one local family is
saving 1,633 gallons of water per day

See how a local couple has saved water with beautiful drought-tolerant gardens in their front and back yards...from NBC 11's 'Water Matters.'

Reduced Water Use By 50%

We have eliminated our small front lawn (got rid of the back one years ago) and have reduced our water usage by about 50%. Water conservcation should not be a draught issue, but an ongoing process. I do find it annoying to watch some of our neighbors watering their lawns mid-day, in the heat and wind; some folks just don't get it.

Paul...Clayton

Bucket in the Sink

I am using reclaimed "brown" water from my kitchen sink to water my vegetable garden, dry patches on the lawn or pots in our landscape. This water is from run-off of hand washing or general rinsing -- no food particles. I simply put a bucket under the faucet to collect the water and then use it to pour onto the plants. I'm amazed at how much water used to simply go down the drain that can now be reused.

Kelly…Antioch

Pump Saves Hot Water

We have replaced two toilets with about one gallon per flush toilets. We don't flush after each pee. And, we recently installed a recirculating pump on the water heater that now gets hot water to our upstairs bathroom and to the kitchen almost immediately. This saves several minutes of waiting for hot water, and who knows how many gallons per day.

John…Pittsburg

Put a Vinegar Bottle In Your Older Toilet Tank

I placed an empty vinegar jug (one gallon) in each of my pre-1992 toilet tanks.

They fit nicely and snugly without any worry about floating around and blocking the flushing mechanism. You can fill about one quart of clean rinsed sand in the jug to weigh down the jug if it doesn't fit snugly in the tank and floating around.

Vinegar jugs are of sturdy quality and unlikely to crack from age for a long time because of the extra thickness, unlike milk jugs with their thinner and flimsy bodies. It is not advisable to use bricks because they are too heavy and weigh unevenly inside the tank and upset the tank.

This advice is for people who cannot afford to buy a new toilet even with the $175 voucher for a rebate right now.

I am just offering an immediate solution , since time cannot wait.. Every gallon counts right now not next month or year.

Brett...Antioch

Bucket in the Shower

I bought a bucket at the dollar store and put it in my shower so that when I am waiting for it to get hot, I catch all that precious water. Then I use it for animals and plants.

I hateeeeeeee to see my lawn go but am doing my best to use my sink water and the bucket that I have in our showers.

Brenda...Matinez

'Replaced Our Lawn With Drought Tolerant Plants, Take Shorter Showers'

We have cut down our water use by 50 percent. We replaced our entire lawn with drought tolerant plants. We flush all toilets with water collected from showers. We replace bed linen less often, take shorter showers and reuse dish water to irrigate some plants. We collect rain water. Cover the pool to reduce evaporation and stress plants so they become less water dependant.

We feel passionately about conserving water all the time not only in drought years.

Ilana...Walnut Creek

Top 10 List of Hints Includes Smart Wash, Car Wash Coupons

1. Heavily mulched all gardens
2. Collecting rinse water from washing machine to use in garden.
3. Collecting rinse water from kitchen & bathroom sinks.
4. Collecting water from shower until warm water starts flowing.
5. When working in yard, shower off with hose to cool down, clean up and water grass.
6. Only flush toilets when solid material present.
7. Fix leaks in sprinkler system and adjust sprinkler heads so no water goes on sidewalk.
8. Cut back lawn and garden watering to minimum required to keep plants alive.
9. Shut of water in shower and in sinks when soaping up. Never let it run.
10. Used CCWD Smart Car Wash coupons to have car washed instead of washing the cars myself.

"The coupons worked fine. The attendant recognized the coupon and the process was smooth. I’ve made additional copies of the coupon so that I can go to that car wash on a regular basis in the future."

Bryan...Concord

Fixed Valve Saves Water

"We've actually reduced our usage by half since last year according to our bill (mostly because of fixing the irrigation timer).

"My husband and I paid closer attention to how our sprinklers were running and discovered a solenoid valve was running for hours instead of the mere minutes we'd programmed. Since we replaced the faulty valve and wiring our sprinklers shut off like they're supposed to and there's no more puddles in the street.

"Since responsible irrigators time their irrigation in the very early morning, we are not always awake to notice problems like this.

It might be worth reminding customers to check on their systems during real-time runs to make sure problems don't go undetected for months (as ours unfortunately did). We only figured this out by getting up at 3-4 a.m. to check!

Jennifer...Walnut Creek

New Lawn Sprinkler Keeps Water Bill Low

I purchased a 20 gal plastic trash can with a lid and fill it with used bath water to water my outdoor plants [excluding the lawn].

Granted, it is a chore to scoop out the tub, fill a bucket, take it outside and dump it in the trash container - but it's worth it!

I do not have an irrigation system in my lawn; I purchased a oscillating sprinkler and have cut my watering time in half & the lawn is getting better coverage than w/my old sprinkler [that I had to move 6 times to cover the lawn]. I have also adopted the 'every second' flush.

Just received my May/June water bill, daily usage was 109...54 below my allotment and 90 below last years usage!

Sandra...Concord

Water Lawn at Night, Scrape the Plate

One of the things I do to save water is water the lawn at night. I see lots of neighbors watering in the morning or day, but that only makes boiled water which evaporate's fast, whereas night watering soaks better and holds well. (CCWD recommends watering around 3 a.m. )

I am from Japan where there is no water shortage problem, but water is extremely expensive. From those penny pinchers, here is another idea that might sound comical to you but they do it in Japan.  They use only 1/3 cup of water to brush their teeth!  They really do.

Another water saving idea from Japan is to scrape all the greasy stuff off your plate, rather than use the power of the water from your faucet to clean your plate. I think many Americans do this, but haven't seen the idea anywhere (The Contra Costa Central Sanitary District would like you to put grease into the trash, rather than down the sink. See their brochure here.)

Tak...Concord

Let Lawn Die, More Water Saved

1. Let the lawn die
2. Put in low flow faucets, and shower heads (you can get these free at CCWD's office)..
3. Low volume toilets.
4. New clothes washer which allows me to set the load size, and allows me to select only a single rinse mode instead of two.

I already had been conserving in other ways, like not flushing all the time unless you had to, short showers, not letting the water run while brushing your teeth etc. Hope the input helps.
 
Jimmy...Concord

Rinse All The Dishes At Once

We've installed drip irrigation in our planter beds.

I also re-use/save water during food preparation. Instead of pouring water I don't need at the moment down the drain, I'll save it in a measuring cup to use for something else later, like making coffee.

I also stack soapy dishes in my sink so I can rinse off many with one spray of water. I'll be interested to read others' ideas!

Valerie...Alamo