There are big changes you can make in an effort to "go green" but the ones we'll try to implement this month are simple changes that, while easy, can have a big impact on the environment while having little impact on your lifestyle. Like turning off the water while you brush your teeth...
Simple Green: Turn Off the Water While Brushing
If the average faucet flows at two gallons a minute, and you brush your teeth for three minutes (well, that's the rule anyway, according to our dentist), turning off the water while you brush your teeth can save between twelve and eighteen gallons of water a day, depending on whether you brush your teeth twice or three times a day.
[Image via CursedThing's flicker, with a Creative Commons LIcense]
Originally posted by Abby on AT:LA.
Comments (6)
Top Green Tours
Copyright © 2008 Apartment Therapy
Installing a faucet pedal will help - it keeps hands free and saves even more water by cutting out the time it takes to turn the faucet on and off with your hands.
view iloveOrange's profile
Old habits die hard... I catch myself letting the faucet run while brushing way too much. I'm working on it...
view ronzo's profile
This is so strange to me... I've never known anyone who has left the water running while brushing their teeth! Is it just me, or weren't most people taught this when they were little?
view SMM's profile
The only time I run the faucet continuously is while shaving. Nothing ruins a close ( and cut free ) shave like cold water on a blade.
view Khurt Williams's profile
I had a roommate in college who came home late one night (around 4am) and washed her face and went to bed without turning the water off.
Around 8am, I woke up, turned the water off and started calculating gallons wasted. I was in a foul mood for a week! Still not quite over it, I guess.
Sorry I was so mean about it, Christina.
view raven's profile
This is strange to me too. It's the single environmental thing taught to us in elementary school. I mean really hammered in and somehow people still can't manage.
Not much hope left for us.
view emilyalane's profile