Programs and Services

Tips for Saving Water Inside Your Home

Making a few simple changes to how you and your family use water around your home, you can reduce water consumption by as much as 40 percent. This will help our environment and reduce the need for expensive water system infrastructure investments. Close to 70 percent of all water residential water supply flows down the drain from faucets and the bathroom toilet! Try these conservation tips:

• Turn off the water when shampooing your hair, shaving, washing your hands or brushing your teeth. Brushing your teeth with a free-flowing faucet sees eight liters go down the drain!
• Repair leaky toilets and faucets. Even a minor leak can waste 66-litres a day!
• Install water-saving showerheads and aerators on bathroom taps and faucets.
  

Tips for Saving Water Outside in the Summer Months

• Conservation comes with better dirt – improving your soil in the spring can lower your water consumption by 25%.
• Aerate your soil every spring.  Over time, soil gets compacted. Aeration improves water penetration and helps oxygen and organic materials to reach the roots.  Allow cores to dry out and break down, don’t rake them up.
• Top dress your lawn with compost or other organic material so that your lawn holds water and nutrients longer.
• Check your irrigation system – check for common problems with your sprinkler heads, the pressure, the coverage, the zones and the timer.
  

• Make Water Work
• The Okanagan Xeriscape Association
• The Okanagan Basin Water Board
• Okanagan WaterWise