I don’t know about the rest of you, but here in Northern Nevada, our household water costs is skyrocketing!  It’s got to be going thru the roof in SoCal as well.

Our water bills have been raised to a minimum of $102.00 per month.  The typical home with a family of four and a yard is experiencing at least $150.00 per month for water.

There is also talk going on that the rates could be raised even higher.  So I’m trying to figure out what to do about it.  I understand my rates will never be lower than $102.00 per month, but how do I keep the bill from going to much higher.

I started by converting three of the five toilets to dual-flush.  This is working really well.  It took a couple of weeks to finally train our family to use the appropriate button.

Next, I inserted water restriction washers by removing my shower heads and simply inserting the washer.  It took all but five minutes.  The shower still produces quite a lot ofwater.  This is a better solution than forcing the family to get wet, turn off the water, soap up and then turn the water back on for a rinse.That did not go over so well with my wife!

The other thing that I have been doing is to install a drip irrigation system in my side yard flower beds and bushes.  I installed ½ gallon per hour drips for all the flowers and when needed “micro-sprayers”.  Some of the newly planted trees were installed with “adjustable flow” drip heads.  These can be adjusted from ¼ of a gallon per hour up to 10 gallons per hour.  Most trees require 20 gallons per week.

I created a new program on my sprinkler control box for the drip so that it goes on twice per week for 3 hours.  The plants seem to be doing better than ever.  They are getting water directly where it’s needed and the slow dripping of water penetrates to the roots with no “run-off”.

I will let you know how these changes are affecting my water usage next month.

Oh and remember to call your Roto-Rooter plumber to help you convert those toilets to dual-flush.  For appointments, go to www.1800GetRoto.com or call us at the same number.

Dan Wager