BRIDGEPORT, W.Va. — As much as 10,000 gallons of water are wasted by the average American household per year — enough to do laundry for a family of four for the entire year.
“You probably never even see it, but that’s the water that’s being wasted. Every drop of water that’s not being used is water that’s costing you money,” said Karen Hall, public information specialist for the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC).
That was the message spread to third and fourth graders of Simpson Elementary School in Bridgeport Tuesday as part of “Fix a Leak” Week, a program created by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
“This week is designed to bring to the forefront the importance of conserving our natural resources, especially our water, and also to teach people how to find the leaks in your home, which may be silent and may not be visible,” Hall said.
While elementary school students aren’t yet paying water bills, “Fix a Leak” Week, now in its 10th year, aims to shape the water use of those students in the future.
“If you teach them at this age, the things that they’re learning and absorbing now, these are the things that stay with them for the rest of their lives,” Hall said. “If you teach them the lesson of conservation at this age, they become adults who conserve and they become adults who know how to save money on their utility bills.”
Those students are also taking the message home to their parents, who are then able to search for leaks and save money on their water bills in the present.
During “Fix a Leak” Week presentations, students are taught to look for leaks, primarily where water enters the home and where water exits the home.
“So if there’s a place where water comes in, which is usually a faucet, or it may be where the water comes into your hot water heater or into an appliance such as your washer or even your refrigerator, you may find leaks there that you wouldn’t necessarily see if you weren’t looking for them,” Hall said.
Hall said you should also search for leaks at drain pipes leaving the house, as well as outside of your home. In case you encounter any issues with your water heater, such as leaks or malfunctions, seek immediate assistance from professionals specializing in emergency hot water heater repair in Vancouver WA.
“If you have an irrigation system or a sprinkler system, that can also be leaking and those leaks are very hard to detect,” she said. “One of the things you can do is turn off all of the water in your house and wait for two hours. If your meter has moved in those two hours, you know you have a leak.”
Wasted water doesn’t only come from leaks, however, it also stems from using too much water in day-to-day activities. But the good news is, there’s easy ways to lessen your usage and conserve water.
“By all means, turn off the water when you’re washing your hands,” Hall said. “Turn off the water while you’re brushing your teeth. Take shorter showers. Take a shallow bath, if you’re going to take a bath. There are any number of ways to do that.”
Even something as simple as reusing an ice cube dropped on the floor by putting it in the dog’s water bowl or watering house plants.
“There are many, many different ways and once you start looking, you’ll find all kinds of ways to save water,” Hall said.
And by saving water, customers will be pleased to see lower utility bills as well.
“Even if you’re getting your water from a well, you’re using electricity to pump the water in, so water does cost you. It’s not free,” Hall said.
The idea that water isn’t free may be difficult to explain to children, as they may take for granted that water is always available at the flip of a faucet handle.
“One of the things that we tell them is when mom and dad have to pay the water bill and there’s a lot of water being wasted, they’re having to pay extra money for the water every month,” Hall said. “If they didn’t have to pay that extra money for the water, they could be buying something more fun like maybe pizza. So we ask them what they’d rather have — a higher water bill or pizza, and they inevitably prefer the pizza, believe me.”
For more information on “Fix a Leak” Week, visit www.psc.state.wv.us