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Keep Liberty Beautiful: Saving water is an everyday thing
Karen Bell
Keep Liberty Beautiful Executive Director Karen Bell.

Dr. Karen Bell

Keep Liberty Beautiful

Keep Liberty Beautiful and some lucky community members attended the first of many Rain Barrel Workshops at the Liberty County Community Complex in Midway.

 In partnership with Coca-Cola United, the Georgia Coastal Management Program informed us how a rain barrel can save most homeowners 2,000 gallons of water each year. We learned that rainwater can be used for watering gardens, washing cars, and other projects around the house.

Kelly Hill instructed us on how to install our rain barrel, how to maintain it, and how to keep us and the environment safe.

Every day we go about our lives, not realizing that we are wasting water by doing our daily routines in our homes.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the Earth might seem like it has abundant water — but less than 1% is available for human use. The average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water daily; roughly 70% of this use occurs indoors.

Nationally, outdoor water use accounts for 30% of household use yet can be much higher in drier parts of the country and for more water-intensive landscapers. Here are some tips found on www.

Eartheasy.com for making a few simple efficiency upgrades for those most common water wasters in your home.

• Water Waster #1: Your Toilets

Your toilet is responsible for up to 25% of household use. An older toilet wastes gallons of water with every flush.

Upgrading to a low-flow toilet can save up to 75%!

An adjustable flapper can significantly reduce your usage if you’re not ready to replace an older toilet.

You can also put filled plastic bottles or a tank bank in the toilet tank to make it use less water per flush.

• Water Waster #2: Your Washing Machine

Did you know washing your clothes may take up to 54 gallons per load with a conventional topload washer? The most efficient front loader washers require only seven gallons, offering substantial water savings.

• Water Waster #3: Your Shower

While far more water-efficient than baths, showers still account for 17% of indoor water use.

A low-flow showerhead will reduce water use by about 40% over standard showerheads. The EPA reports that if every showerhead in the U.S. was a WaterSense model, we’d collectively save 260 billion gallons of water and over $5 billion annually!

• Water Waster #4: Your Faucets

Faucets account for about 17% of household water use, so adding water-saving aerators to your taps can mean significant savings. Some aerators cut water flow by 77%!

• Water Waster #5: Leaks

In addition to fixing leaky faucets and toilets, it’s a good practice to check the rest of your house for drips and puddles that could indicate ongoing leaks. If you don’t see any evidence of leaks, it’s still worth checking your water meter when you know no one is using water in your house. Is it moving?

Record meter readings over one hour and note the difference. You have a leak somewhere if your meter advances when no water is in use.

Making these few adjustments in your home will have many positive effects on our environment and save money on your water bill. In addition to saving money on your water bill, conserving water helps prevent water pollution in nearby lakes, rivers, and local watersheds. Conserving water also prevents greenhouse gas emissions from treating and distributing water because it takes energy to process and transport all that liquid.

Lastly, conserving water can also extend the life of your septic system by reducing soil saturation and pollution due to leaks. Overloading municipal sewer systems can also cause untreated sewage to flow to lakes and rivers.

Reducing the amount of water flowing through the systems lowers the possibility of pollution.

Your small actions in your home can significantly change our environment. So really, it’s a WIN-WIN situation for you and the Earth!

The Rivers Alive cleanups are still going on. We appreciate all the Adopt Liberty groups that have done and for planning a cleanup this quarter. The countywide Rivers Alive cleanup is on October 22, 2022. To sign up, contact us at the Keep Liberty Beautiful office at (912) 880- 4888 or email klcb@libertycountyga.com.

Please check our website at www.keeplibertybeautiful. org for information on all our upcoming events

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