Archive for April 24, 2014

Want to save water? Toilets have greatest impact

Many Americans are confused about the best ways to conserve water and have a slippery grasp on how much water different activities use, according to a national online survey conducted by an Indiana University researcher.

Experts say the best strategy for conserving water is to focus on efficiency improvements such as replacing toilets and retrofitting washing machines. However, the largest group of the participants, nearly 43 percent, cited taking shorter showers, which does save water but may not be the most effective action. Very few participants cited replacing toilets or flushing less, even though toilets use the most volume of water daily.

Toilets

The results of the survey of 1,020 participants are detailed in the article “Perceptions of Water Use” by author Shahzeen Attari, an assistant professor at Indiana University Bloomington’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs. The article appears the week of March 3 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read more