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Every Little Bit Helps - To Save Water
We all know to turn off the water when we're brushing our teeth, but did you know that by doing so you'll be saving as much as 3,000 gallons of water a year?  It is amazing how much of a difference "little" actions can have.  There are many other easy steps that we can all take to conserve water.  

What Makes It Green?
Between 70 and 75% of the earth's surface is covered in water, but humans can only use about three tenths of a percent of this water.  Americans use around 6,000 million gallons of fresh water every day, so it's crucial that we conserve this precious natural resource.  

What You Can Do
Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Repair dripping faucets which can waste over 1000 gallons per year.
• Fix leaky toilets - they waste 15 gallons of water per day.
• Take showers instead of baths. If you can't live without baths (or have small children who can't shower yet), don't fill the tub up all the way.
• Take shorter showers because you're using 5 - 10 gallons of water per minute.
• Fill a watering can while the shower water heats up and use the water to water plants.
• Scrape, rather than rinse, dishes before loading the dishwasher.
• Wash "tough" dishes and pots in your sink all at one time instead of individually. Washing dishes one at a time can waste hundreds of gallons of water a month.
• Wait and run your dishwasher until it's full.
• Place a bottle with water and pebbles in your toilet tank to save 4 gallons of water per flush.
• Water your lawn in the morning to reduce evaporation from the sun.
• Use a broom instead of a hose to clean the driveway, patio and sidewalk.
• Collect rain water in a rain barrel under your downspout.
• Use soaker hoses or trickle irrigation systems for trees and shrubs.
• Make sure planting beds and trees have adequate mulch, which keeps the ground around them from drying out.

According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), Americans use an average of 100 gallons of water each day-enough to fill 1,600 drinking glasses!

Rain barrels are easy to put together or build.  We did it and can take advantage of all the rain that we can get from Mother Nature.