Fix A Leak Week

Fix A Leak Week is March 17-23, 2014.  WaterSense, an EPA Partnership, along with a number of municipalities around the country have planned activities during March to bring awareness to our water consumption and waste.  The average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home.  Roughly 70 percent of this use occurs indoors.  Outdoor water use accounts for 30 percent of household use and can be much higher in drier parts of the country.
Fix a Leak Week is celebrated in March of each year as a time to remind Americans to check their household fixtures and irrigation systems for leaks. $25 off Plumbing Service Coupon Here!
The Facts on Leaks:

• The average household’s leaks can account for more than 10,000 gallons of water wasted every year, or the amount of water needed to wash 270 loads of laundry.
• Common types of leaks found in the home include worn toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and are easily correctable.
• Fixing easily corrected household water leaks can save homeowners about 10 percent on their water bills.
• Keep your home leak-free by repairing dripping faucets, toilet flappers, and showerheads. In most cases, fixture replacement parts don’t require a major investment.

Leak Detection:

• A good method to check for leaks is to examine your winter water usage. It’s likely that a family of four has a serious leak problem if its winter water use exceeds 12,000 gallons per month.
• Check your water meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak.
• One way to find out if you have a toilet leak is to place a drop of food coloring in the toilet tank. If the color shows up in the bowl within 15 minutes without flushing, you have a leak. Make sure to flush immediately after this experiment to avoid staining the tank.
• A leaky faucet that drips at the rate of one drip per second can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year. That’s the amount of water needed to take more than 180 showers!
• A showerhead leaking at 10 drips per minute wastes more than 500 gallons per year. That’s the amount of water it takes to wash 60 loads of dishes in your dishwasher.
• If your toilet is leaking, the cause is often an old, faulty toilet flapper. Over time, this inexpensive rubber part decays, or minerals build up on it. It’s usually best to replace the whole rubber flapper—a relatively easy, inexpensive do-it-yourself project that pays for itself in no time.

Calculate you water savings here http://www.epa.gov/watersense/our_water/start_saving.html#tabs-3