WATER

But Berggren says rather than changing habits — which we all know can have a hit-or-miss success rate — he’d start with making purchases, like a more e cient shower xture.

e EPA says households can boost their water e ciency by 20% when residents switch to products with WaterSense labels. And a shower that lasts for ve minutes using a low- ow showerhead uses 12 gallons of water, according to a 2014 Colorado State University water use fact sheet.

Similar savings are possible with toilets: ose made before 1993 use 3.5 to 8 gallons per ush, while high e ciency toilets made after 1993 use 1.6 gallons per ush or less. at means a family of four can save 14,000 to 25,000 gallons per year by switching to more e cient toilets. ( e date of manufacture of most toilets is on the underside of the tank lid.)

Updating your washing machine can also make a big di erence. Conventional, top-loading washing machines use 35 to 50 gallons per load. Newer front-loading machines use 18 to 20 gallons per load, according to CSU.

For those who have updated their appliances and are careful about water use around the house, there’s a way to take at-home e ciency a step further: grey water reuse. ese systems capture grey water — the runo from showers, bathroom sinks and laundry machines — and then use it for other purposes, like watering ornamental plants outside or ushing toilets, at the same location. is water can contain dirt, oil, greases, lint and possibly human pathogens, so don’t use it to drink or water your vegetables, experts say. ese systems also come with a catch: Local governments need water rights that allow for reuse, which limits the adoption of grey water programs, and new installations are only legal if the local government has o cially approved grey water reuse. People with pre-existing systems should check with their local

Laundry-to-landscape systems installed by homeowners, which capture washing machine water for outdoor irrigation, can cost as little as $350, said Jon Novick, the environmental administrator for the Denver Department of Public Health and Environment.

Whole house systems pipe water from showers and bathroom sinks through a treatment process and then send it to toilets to provide water for ushing. e system alone can cost $6,000 to $8,000, not including installation costs, so they’re more feasible for new houses or developments with multiple units, Novick said. ey’re often cost prohibitive for existing homes.