In this day and age, the 24-hour news cycle, grassroots community efforts and government laws have put the environment front and center on the public consciousness. So, there’s never been a better time for you to teach your youngsters about things like conserving water.
The fact is people use a lot of water over the course of any given day. The problem with that is much of that water goes to waste.
Consider, for instance, the following statistics for some perspective on the water usage situation:
- Ninety-Five percent of the water piped into homes goes down the drain — literally and figuratively;
- Running the faucet while teeth-brushing can lead to the wasting of four gallons of water; and
- Some toilets use three gallons of water every time it’s flushed.
If you’re wondering how you can take the initiative and teach your kids about how to conserve water, you’re in luck since this article will cover just that.
Take Shorter Showers
This is an easy one. In fact, if your children are old enough to take showers on their own, they can get into the habit of taking speed showers.
Consider the average shower utilizes as much as 5 gallons of water every minute. Let your kids know that even cutting their shower time by a single minute can — over the passing days, months, and years — have a tangible positive impact.
Use a Pail to Wash Family Car
Did you know that using your garden house for 20 minutes to wash your car could lead to the loss of 40 gallons of water? So, when the weather gets warmer, and you and your kids are giving the family vehicle a nice wash before a planned road trip, choose a pail over a garden house.
You can use a pail to wet, soap up, and rinse the vehicle. If you go this route, you’ll only use, at most, around 10 gallons, which is a great deal less than the 40 gallons you’d go through if you use a garden hose to wash your car.
Turn the Faucets Off
While you need water to wash your hands or brush your teeth, you don’t have to leave the water running throughout the entire process. For instance, inform your children they should, when washing their hands, turn off the water during the lathering-up stage.
After they’ve lathered up, they can turn the faucet back on to rinse off their hands.
Reuse Water
Teach your step kids about the importance of reusing water whenever possible. Do you have pasta nights at your home?
Don’t throw away the water. After you strain the pasta, keep the water rather than throwing it down the drain.
You can do the same thing if you’re your family has boiled eggs in the morning.
Save the liquid, let it cool and then use it to water your plants.
Flush Less
While your kids need to flush the toilet every time their bathroom break involves going number 2, they should be encouraged to flush less frequently if they go number 1.
Remember toilets tend to be the primary culprits when to comes to wasted water.
Well, there you have it — a handful of easy ways that you can teach kids to save water. Being environmentally responsible is everyone’s responsibility.
Taking the initiative to teach your children will go a long way towards helping them to become good environmental stewards.
Please review the following infographic on The 25 Best Ways to Conserve Water to get even more water conservation ideas.
