 indoor conservation tips indoor conservation tips conserving water is good for the environment for wildlife and for our future and saving water isn t difficult all it takes is a little awareness and knowhow to conserve hundreds of gallons of water each month or even each week just how important is water conservation consider these facts a leaking toilet can waste up to 2700 gallons of water a month most gardens could thrive with 2540 less water one small leak from a faucet can waste 50 gallons of water a day we ve compiled these handy tips to help you save water throughout your home both indoors and out bathroom shower shorten each shower by five minutes you ll save up to 25 gallons per shower install a lowflow showerhead and you can save 12 gallons every five minutes collect water that runs until the shower gets hot and use it to water plants bathroom save 18 gallons of water every time you take a bath by filling your bathtub halfway save more than 3 gallons every time you flush by installing a lowflow toilet avoid costly toilet leaks   sink turn the water off while you re using the sink you ll save up to 20 gallons per use replace older bathroom faucet nozzles aerators with new ones rated at 10 gallons per minute gpm or less aerators cost only a few dollars kitchen dishwasher install energy star  approved dishwashers which can save an average of 5 gallons of water per load or 792 gallons per year use a dishwasher the average dishwasher uses about 10 gallons of water per load compared to 16 gallons when washed by hand newer efficient dishwashers are even better they use as little as 5 gallons per cycle which means they also consume less energy to heat the water wait to run your dishwasher until you have a full load run the dishwasher one less time per week to save an average of 1015 gallons of water don t prerinse dishes most newer dishwashers don t require prerinsing sink reuse the water from washing your vegetables or boiling eggs to water plants keep drinking water in the refrigerator instead of running the faucet to get cold water make sure your faucet has an aerator installed which can save up to 13 in daily faucet water use avoid wasting water waiting for it to get hot capture it in a pot for other uses such as watering plants use your stove top or microwave to heat it avoid using running water to thaw meat or other frozen foods defrost food overnight in the refrigerator or use the defrost setting on your microwave oven garbage disposals require a lot of water to operate properly try starting a compost pile instead soak your pots and pans instead of letting the water run while you scrape them when washing dishes by hand fill one sink with wash water and the other with rinse water laundry clothes washer install an energy star  approved washing machine average washers use up to 55 gallons of water per load compared to as little as 20 gallons for energy starapproved models run the clothes washer one less time per week you could save up to 35 gallons of water save water by running the washer only when you have a full load to do  tips   indoor  