Making sure you monitor how much water is being flushed into your septic system is a great way to extend your system’s life. Excess water can overwhelm your septic system and cause system failure. By upgrading your plumbing fixtures to efficient models, the amount of water you use on a daily and weekly basis can be drastically reduced.
Toilets
The average person flushes the toilet 5 times each day and account for nearly 27% of a household’s water use. Older toilet models can use 3.5 gallons per flush, which adds up quickly. Water conscious flushing habits can help reduce this amount. Better yet, upgrading to a low-flow toilet can slash your home’s toilet water usage in half. Low-flow toilets use no more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush, and recent models come equipped with a dual-flush system, which use less than 1 gallon for flushing liquids and a 1.6 gallon flush for solids.
Faucets
Just over 15% of indoor water usage is accounted for with faucet usage. By turning off the faucet when brushing teeth and shaving can cut down on this, but installing low-flow faucet aerators is the easiest way to reduce faucet water usage. While the typical faucet is equipped to flow at a rate of 2.2 gallons per minute, low-flow faucet aerators can down this down to 1.0 gallon per minute, while maintaining strong water pressure. Simply changing the aerators in your faucets, can reduce faucet water usage by more than 50%, and depending on the model, households can save over 500 gallons of water per year.
Shower Heads
On average, a 10-minute shower can use over 30 gallons of water. However, high-efficiency shower head models can reduce water usage down to 15 – 20 gallons of water. High-efficiency or low-flow shower heads can save 5 to 10 gallons of water per shower, saving a family of 4 over 10,000 gallons of water each year Not only will this water savings extend the life of your septic system, it will also reduce energy costs to heat the water.
Upgrading your home’s plumbing fixtures is a simple method extend the life of your septic system. Maintaining a regular service schedule will also help ensure your system is operating properly and that all potential problems are corrected before they become a major problem.
CURRY’S CAN KEEP YOUR SEPTIC SYSTEM RUNNING SMOOTHLY!
Curry’s has the experts, equipment, and know how to care for your system properly. From emergency repairs, to routine septic maintenance and installation, we’ll be here for you. Contact us to schedule your septic service today!
