by Diane Sagers

CORRESPONDENT

Water. It is beginning to seem like a long, sad song. We don't have enough, we need to conserve, it is hot, hot, hot and everything is thirsty. We have become accustomed to water shortages and given our climate, it is appropriate. However, people could do better in conserving water.

The process doesn't need to be painful -- there are many ways to save water that simply make sense and don't require us to go without.

A recent "Garden Spot" article talked about ways to save water in the landscape -- the biggest water-use area in the residential community. But there are other ways to save water inside the house as well. Things can still be clean and people can have plenty to drink without overusing the water supply.

According to the Utah Division of Water Resources, although Utah is the second driest state in the nation, it has one of the highest usage rates. Utahns use 321 gallons per capita per day (gpcd), compared to the average of 245 gpcd for the mountain states, and the national average of 179 gpcd. Only Nevada uses more water.

Perhaps the reason the two driest states use such a high amount of water is because of the need to water outdoors due to lack of rainfall. A full 67 percent of the gpcd goes for outdoor watering. The vast majority of Utahns seriously over-water their plants.

Utah's population is steadily increasing. It is projected that by 2035, Utah will have 4 million residents. In order to meet the needs of future residents, we need to do our part to use our water wisely.

Much of what we do routinely requires water and we can follow some simple guidelines to cut down on overuse. Often we use more water than is needed through thoughtlessness. We don't stop to consider how much water we are using every day. Some of the techniques for saving water are so obvious that we often overlook them. We take water for granted. We do not have to go to the stream or the well, bring up buckets and haul it into the house. We simply flip on the faucet and presto, there it is.

Consider that it takes:

* 30 gallons of water to fill a bathtub. Two inches of water will clean you as well as a full tub.

* 30 gallons of water to wash one load of laundry. Adjust the water level to match the load size. Doing a full loads is more efficient than half-size loads. Use water-efficient laundry equipment for even better savings.

* 15 gallons of water to take a quick shower using new water-efficient nozzles. Low-flow showerheads save 40 to 50 percent. Older nozzles will quickly fill a tub to its 30-gallon capacity. Hint: take five-minute showers. That relaxing 10 minutes after you have rinsed off the soap can waste up to 100 gallons of water. Limit showers to the time it takes to soap up, wash down and rinse off.

Install water-saving showerheads or flow restrictors. Most showerheads put out 5 to 10 gallons of water a minute, while three gallons is actually enough for a refreshing cleansing shower. Your local hardware or plumbing supply store stocks inexpensive water-saving showerheads that you can install yourself. For even less money, you can purchase a small plastic insert that will limit flow through your present showerhead.

* 15 gallons of water will wash a load of dishes in an average dishwasher. Again, a half load takes just as much as a full load. Water-efficient dishwashers save water. Wash only when the dishwasher has accumulated a full load and use rinse and hold cycles.

In other terms, toilets are responsible for 9 percent of the water used, washers 7 percent, showers and baths 6 percent, leaks 5 percent, faucets 5 percent and other uses a mere 1 percent.

If you wash dishes by hand, don't leave the water running for rinsing. If you have two sinks, fill one with soapy water and one with rinse water. If you have but one sink, gather all the washed dishes in the dish rack and rinse them with an inexpensive spray device.

* 10 gallons to prepare a meal. Could you put some water in a pan to wash the potatoes? Install tap aerators and use a sink stopper when washing dishes.

* 5 gallons per toilet flush. Newer, water-efficient toilets use less. An ultra low flush toilet can save up to 3 gallons of water per flush.

Put two plastic bottles of water in your toilet tank if you don't have a water-efficient model.

Your toilet can flush just as efficiently with less water than it now uses. To cut down water waste, put 1 or 2 inches of sand or pebbles in each of two plastic quart bottles to weigh them down. Fill them with water, replace the lid and put them in your toilet tank, safely away from the operating mechanisms.

Check your toilet for leaks. A leak in your toilet may be wasting more than 100 gallons of water a day. To check, put a little food coloring in your toilet tank. If, without flushing, the coloring begins to appear in the bowl, you have a leak. Adjust or replace the flush valve or call a plumber.

Stop using your toilet as an ashtray or wastebasket. Every time you flush a cigarette butt, facial tissue or other small bit of trash down the toilet, you waste 5 to 7 gallons of water.

* 5 gallons per dripping faucet per day. Faucet washers are inexpensive and take only a few minutes to replace. Check faucets and pipes for leaks. Even the smallest drip from a worn washer can waste 50 or more gallons of water a day. Larger leaks can waste hundreds.

* 100 gallons to wash a car. Why not use a bucket of soapy water to do the main part of the wash then rinse quickly and save some water in the process?

* Running water until it gets cold wastes about a gallon or more. If you like cold water to drink, keep a pitcher in the refrigerator. Some people prefer water that has been stored in glass bottles as it is less likely to take on the taste of the jar.

* Running water while you brush your teeth, if you are a thorough brusher, could waste several gallons. Turn off the water while you brush and use a glass for water to rinse your mouth out.

* Rinse your razor in the sink. Before shaving, partially fill your sink with a few inches of warm water. This will rinse your blade just as efficiently as running water, and far less wastefully.

Note that none of the above suggestions require cutting out the water-using activity. It just requires us to think as we act. Keep the problem in mind, you'll likely find yourself conserving automatically.

How much water are you using? Use it wisely.