The estimates vary, but the average daily indoor water use per person in the United States is somewhere between 70 and 100 gallons a day. Many people are surprised to find out the single largest use of water in the home is for flushing the toilet. The toilet accounts for more than 25% of our average daily water usage. If that’s not bad enough, toilet leaks can easily cause your water usage to double or more. According to EPA estimates, a leaky toilet can waste as much as 200 gallons a day!
Minimizing toilet water usage means installing modern low flow toilets and fixing any toilet leaks. If you have an older pre-1995 toilet, you are flushing money down the sewer. Older toilets use anywhere from 3.5 to 7 gallons of water per flush while modern WaterSense toilets use 1.3 gallons per flush without sacrificing performance.
You can save hundreds of dollars per year on your water bill by installing a water efficient toilet. The savings on your water bill will pay for the cost of a toilet and professional toilet installation by a good plumber in just a few years.
If you already have low flow toilets, then your priority is to fix any toilet leaks. You can check for leaks by putting a few drops of food coloring in the tank and seeing if the water in the bowl changes color. If so you have a leak that needs to be fixed. First, flush all of that dye out of the tank and bowl to avoid staining the porcelain. Then call a plumber and have the leaks repaired. Fortunately, fixing a leaky toilet is usually an inexpensive plumbing job that will pay for itself quickly.
