Everyday Environmentalism

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s Water Conservation Section provides free water-saving devices to city residents so I dropped by its downtown location to pick up the goods: low-flow showerheads, kitchen and bathroom faucet aerators, and toilet flappers. Why not being more efficient? And for free!

The visit: The employee helping me was incredibly nice. I was provided the devices after filling out minimal paperwork and she went through our water usage history, provided feedback, and set up an appointment for an on-site Free Water-Wise Evaluation.

The SF PUC employee pulled up water usage history over the last few years via a new online system that will be available to customers in the future. Our numbers were actually quite good, except for three months of outliers (between 2 and 14 times our usual amount) likely due to leakage. I was informed that ideal usage is 5 units (or 748 gallons) per person over 60 days.

Potential water-savings: I’m really excited to evaluate this in the future. Here is a rundown of what is EXPECTED:
+ Low-flow showerhead: Water flow reduced to 1.5 gallons per minute or less. This could save thousands gallons per year.
+ Kitchen/bathroom aerator: Water flow also reduced to 1.5 gallons per minute or less. In combination, they could potentially reduce usage by 4%.
+ Toilet flapper: Warn out flappers could allow leaks/more water flow into the toilet. Replacing it within two years is ideal. We recently replaced ours so I stored the new device.

Next: I will providing updates about (1) the Water-Wise Evaluation next week and (2) our water usage in the upcoming months.

Filed under: Water on February 13th, 2010