Question of the Week: When was the last time you fixed a leak?
An American home can waste, on average, more than 10,000 gallons of water every year due to running toilets, dripping faucets, and other household leaks. Nationwide, more than 1 trillion gallons of water leak from U.S. homes each year. That’s why WaterSense is promoting Fix a Leak Week from March 15 to 21, 2010, to remind Americans to check their plumbing fixtures and irrigation systems for leaks.
When was the last time you fixed a leak?
Each week we ask a question related to the environment. Please let us know your thoughts as comments. Feel free to respond to earlier comments or post new ideas. Previous questions.ea
Editor's Note: The opinions expressed in Greenversations are those of the author. They do not reflect EPA policy, endorsement, or action, and EPA does not verify the accuracy or science of the contents of the blog.
I have been working as a government employee to arrange water resources development, since 1982. My job in swamp forests to build drainage of water swamp and to create resettlement for poor people. Many problems, I saw and tasted these, about their different habit. Now, I am happy heard that almost their children become the student…….
you guys are doing a job by giving people awareness and developing sense of responsibility in them
The last time we fixed leaks was a year or so ago, when we replaced our old, high-volume toilets (which both has slow leaks) with new, low-flow models. Wow, what a difference in our water bill!
Last night. I had a pipe to freeze and had to replace it.
I always to turn of the water pump, because the others sometimes forget to do it. The water in the world, sometimes cheap and the other places more expensive. They also our friends and sometimes the enemies. If an American can waste 10,000 galons of water every year, are they cheap, expensive, friends or enemies ?
That makes me think about this thought again:” Everyone is awaiting that job to be done, everyone is not ready to make a consensus, and until the job result comes unresolved”.
Besides checking for leaks, we need to improve our systems so that they conserve water by design. Potable water is expensive – look at the cost of electricity to run pump stations and water treatment faciltiies. Not to mention the removal of water from the ground or watershed area that is then lost by being “shipped out” to other regions.
Is there a sane reason why a handful of mega corporations should be allowed to take water from various communities, bottle it and then ship it across the nation or world in order to make millions of dollars in profits…. but leave a depleted watertable and local people without adequate water supplies? Why does this not offend the average consumer? Why this obsession with “designer” bottled water?
The most effective way to conserve the limited supply of water is to peacefully reduce the human population through family planning and giving each women the right to decide if and when to birth her children. Then, as the population returns to a natural balance with the Earth, there would be plenty of water for everyone.
A couple months ago I replaced the flapper on the toilet in my new apartment since the old one was leaking. The month before we replaced the old valves in the shower since they didn’t have a tight seal.
The township in which I work performs an annual leak survey of public water lines. Last year they found and fixed enough leaks to prevent $200,000 of water loss at a cost of $30,000 for the survey. Saves water and money!
I am lucky that the condo I have has real good plumbing. Since I have lived here from December 2003 until now, the only leak I had to fix has been to get one new tiolet flapper. This condo has been great in every way. Best wishes, Michael E. Bailey.
Water the liquid of life. So many good thoughts, so many people trying to figure out why some take advantage and profit on natural resources. I think water should be shared and not be used for profiteering WK
IAM LIVING IN ANDAMAN, INDIA , WEARE GETTING ALTENATE DAYS WATER SUPPLY . WE ARE NOT WASTING WATER . I USE TO FIX YEARLY ALL LEAKAGE IF ANY EXITS.
WATER SHORTAGE IS DUE TO GLOBAL WARMING , WATER EVAPORATES MORE FAST.
S.S.VENKATESHWAR, ANDAMAN, PORT BLAIR , INDIA
Our home is 18 years old and we have had one leak occur 3 yrs ago in our basement from the city lines pipe, and that had to be fixed immediately. Now, our kitchen faucet is dripping and in need of replacement. I think the Pur water attatchment caused a strain there, and the washer is probably worn out. It was a cheap faucet, and you do get what you pay for. Maintenance is all part of ownership. Although sometimes, we can’t see it until it happens~ Have a nice day.
Question is “When haven’t I had to fix a leak?”
If the plumbing manufacturers would just make a really high quality toilet flushing system or a spigot that you can repair without removing a wall to get to I think the world would be a better place. I mean, really…it seems that not a six-month period goes by without having to do a major plumbing job due to a bad flapper, a crappy wax toilet seal, or a new drip starts on one of the 8 sinks or outdoor spigots I have been indentured to by owning a home.
I dealt with 2 leaks just recently, one on a water line and another in the roof of my house. But I (we) wish that a solution could be found to fix the kind of leaks that get out between friends, families, work, church meetings, etc. Boy would that not save a great deal of energy (and sorrow).
The Earth is not warming and hasn’t been. Climate Change isn’t caused by humans. Science proves it wrong.
While I fully support any and all efforts to curb needless waste, I can’t help but feel that fixing residential leaks is much like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.
I live in the Finger Lakes Region of New York State, only 60 miles south of Lake Ontario. The Northeast is lucky to have such abundant rainfall & freshwater; but there have been repeated efforts by some to use the Great Lakes as a water source for other states that after depleting the mighty Colorado River, still insist on encouraging development in desert areas.
Why do people move into the desert and then insist on their private swimming pools, lush green lawns and wasteful irrigation practices? How about restricting development to what is naturally sustainable?
Municipalities and industry squander our water resources…. and fixing every residential leak in the nation is but a drop in the bucket by comparison. What we need here is major triage,not a few bandaid fixes.
Global warming is the wrong issue. Toxic buildup in soil, air, water and our bodies is far more dangerous than global warming, especially as the population and the economy keep on growing and producing more garbage and sewage which gets partially treated and dumped in the oceans, and the garbage dumped in landfills and the oceans. How many people can the Earth support is the question scientists should be investigating. Seven billion is too many, but everyone instinctively wants to grow their wealth and influence regardless of consequences. It seems to be in our genetic structure and no one wants to think about it.
never.
but skool has alot!
and i tell the janitors to fix them and they do!
Never have fixed a leak but there are many at our school
the last time my dad fixed a leak was 2 weeks ago where our kitchen sink was leaking and a lot of water was being wasted
i never fixed a leak …they fix it for us !
i never fixed a leak but in my apartment complex someone takes care of it !
I have never fixed a leak but when there is a leak my dad fixes it right away to not waste water.
I turned off water that I was not using and i threw all the trash that I had at home and school. I also recycled bottles that I had at home
Yesterday! I replaced the fill valve on my toity.
Triage will happen as natural consequence of the blind commercial greed that inspires most of the economic development happening around the World. But if people would THINK AND PLAN, instead of impulsively following the advertisements, life could be a joy for everyone. Instead, the human race greedily plunges toward ecocide and self-extinction. On a shrinking planet a growing economy has no future.
You hit the right question at the right time. Many school today are having a essay writing contest about water conservation to support the global warning campaign.
In my business we find homeowners who are losing water through two sources. The first is old swimming pools leaking around fittings or through structural cracks. The other more notorious loss of water is due to evaporation. Most homeowners have no idea how much water they’re losing. I usually recommend that they buy a solar pool cover. A pool cover can capture and retain almost 70% of the water loss due to the effects of evaporation. We cover a lot of these ideas in our site