The Environmental Protection Agency officially launched "Fix a Leak Week" last year in Phoenix, Arizona. A translucent water tank was set up in the driveway of longtime residents Dennis & Debbie Jobin that showed how much water was lost with 2 old leaking toilets and a showerhead. Two hundred gallons were wasted in one week!
Be "green" and maybe save some green by making the time to survey your house. Before going to bed (or work), check your water meter, then check it again in the morning (upon return) before any water is used, including irrigation, to make sure there have been no leaks. If there seems to be, carefully inspect your home. Check the bathtub/shower faucets, are they dripping? When you examine your bathroom and kitchen faucet, look underneath to see if there is any evidence of a leak. When the house is quiet, take the lid off each toilet, inspect the unit and listen. Check the water lines to the clothes and dishwasher, water treatment appliances (heater, purifiers) and refrigerator as best you can. In your yard, turn off your irrigation system and let the ground dry--are there any damp areas to indicate water seepage? Could there be a crack in your pool or pool lines? If you cannot find the leak, you'll have to call in a locator to check your hidden pipe system.
Here's a true story of a team of experts who couldn't figure out the problem!
I knew of a contractor who was called in by a frantic homeowner whose water bill had more than quadrupled in a month's time, although nothing had changed in their routine. How could so much water be lost with no signs of a leak? He had called every kind of expert. They checked the water meter, it was accurate. Every pipeline, faucet, and appliance was checked, and there was no leak. No one could figure the mystery, yet on some days his meter showed close to a hundred gallons were used when no one was home! The stress took its toll, and he was home in bed, too sick to get up or go to work. While he was laying there in his misery, he heard his downstairs toilet flush, and he was home alone! Armed with his video camera, he crept downstairs to catch the water bandit, and he captured it on video! It seems his house cat had learned how to flush the toilet, and there it was entertaining itself, flushing the toilet, then striking at the swirling water as if it was trying to catch something getting away, then flushed it again, over and over and over! Mystery solved!
--Remember to be green in the community too! In a public restroom one of the toilets was running because the trap could no longer make a seal. I would estimate a gallon of water was being wasted every five minutes at the rate it was flowing! I shut off the water valve and put up the seat, and put the lid of water tank on the seat's base to signal, do not use and tip off the maintenance crew of the problem since I didn't know how to find them. If there is water flowing down your street, and it hasn't been raining, trace the water to the source. Maybe someone forgot to turn off a water hose, and you can be a good neighbor and turn it off. Water is a precious resource that we all depend upon!
Do your part. Every drop counts!
