Your water and sewer are the two parts that make up your water consumption. The bill for sewer, or wastewater, covers the cost of treating the water that goes down the drains for future use. 

The costs of water and sewer are based on usage and will vary depending on family size, usage habits, and season. To help you minimize your water consumption, check out these simple tips to help you lower your water and sewer bill, helping you to save some bucks.

The largest portions of your water and sewer consumption comes from the usage of your toilet, shower, and bathroom sinks. If you have a leaky toilet, it could cost you hundreds of dollars a month. If you suspect a leak in your bathroom, it potentially may significantly affect the cost of your water and sewer bill. To avoid this bill from getting worse, you need to call a plumber and have it repaired right away.

The toilet flapper is a lid that keeps the water in the tank from flowing into the bowl. Every time you flush the toilet and press the lever, the flapper opens and allows the water to flush. 

If the flapper is not working properly or is faulty, water will continue to leak into the bowl, slowly increasing the amount of water usage, causing your water and sewer bill to skyrocket. To keep this from happening in the future, check your flapper once a year to ensure it seals correctly and so you don’t end up paying a higher water and sewer bill.

To minimize excess water usage, another option to lower your bill is to install a low flow showerhead. Most of the old shower heads do not conserve much water. If you invest in a low flow showerhead, it could save you a significant amount of money each year.

Most people find it enjoyable to take a nice long and hot shower each day. However, if you cut your shower time down by a few minutes, this will help you lower your bill in the long run. If you have a hard time tracking your shower time, set a shower timer and make sure you are out when your timer goes off.

There is no reason to keep water running when you brush your teeth, so it is important to stop this bad habit. Also, when you shave, plug the drain and fill the sink with warm water, and use that water to rinse your razor.

Water consumption in the kitchen accounts for about 20% of total household water use. This simple knowledge will help you conserve water during cooking and cleaning. It means that you don’t have to keep your water running while you’re using the kitchen sink. Be mindful to only use what is necessary.

If any of your sink faucets show signs of leakage, address the leak immediately. Allowing the leak to go unchecked for a long period of time, could end up costing you.  

Most of the time, it’s not necessary to use much water pressure to wash pots and pans. You can buy some innovative faucets on the market that will help you conserve water. Invest in a low flow faucet or a motion sensor faucet like the ones you can find in public bathrooms. Although you may not have seen them in homes before, there’s no reason you can’t be the one to start that trend.

If you are going to make a big salad or are cleaning a bunch of fresh fruits or veggies, avoid running them under a continuous flow of water. Fill up a bowl with water and reuse it to wash each item as you go.

If you wash your dishes in the dishwasher, you use less water than hand washing in the sink. The dishwasher uses only about 4.2 gallons per cycle. Think about the amount of water you can use if you wash one dish by hand. Also, by waiting to run the dishwasher until there is a full load of dirty dishes, you will conserve costs, by not wasting the extra water or electricity by running a load that is only partly filled.

When you apply these simple tips on how to minimize your water consumption, you will be surprised at how easy it really is to lower your water and sewer bill. You will be excited to receive your next bill and see how these small changes have added up to big savings.