Fix A Leak Week: Save Water and Money

Did you know that ten percent of American homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day?  Over a year, this adds up to nearly 1 trillion gallons of wasted water nationwide. Is your home in that ten percent?

This drain on the country's drinking water supply is so critical that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's WaterSense Program devotes a week each year to remind us about the importance of finding and fixing our leaks. Fix A Leak Week is dedicated to raising awareness and to encourage homeowners to find and fix leaks in their homes and yards. The process to keep those leaks in check is quite simple and does not require a lot of your time.

Locally, there are multiple resources to help be more efficient and fix those leaks. The Valley cities have worked hard to provide those resources to their residents and have professional staff available to offer advice and insight into the simple process to find and fix a leak.   

A key resource is the Smart Home Water Guide  website, which was created by the ten AMWUA cities’ water conservation professionals. This mobile-friendly website walks you step-by-step through the process of tracking down leaks and provides links to helpful DIY repair videos. Here is a sample of what you will find to assist in the process.

• Toilet leaks  are mostly silent. Toilets are also the most likely fixtures to be wasting water inside your home. The source of the leak is most likely a failing valve or flap in the tank. The Smart Home Water Guide offers a simple way to determine if your toilets are wasting water and instructions on how to replace the parts causing the leak.
   
• Most drinking water sent to Phoenix Metropolitan homes is used to water outdoors  – grass, trees, shrubs and vegetables – and to keep pools filled. Irrigation leaks can make your water bill spike. That’s why the Smart Home Water Guide encourages homeowners to regularly turn on their irrigation systems and check for leaks. The Smart Home Water Guide helps homeowners look for leaking valves, broken lines, lost or damaged emitters or cracked sprinkler heads. Pool leaks can be harder to detect. The Smart Home Water Guide provides easy tests to determine if your pool or pool equipment are leaking.
   
• Both the Smart Home Water Guide website and its companion booklet offer a glossary called Water Speak 101 . It contains the vocabulary most often used by professionals in the industry, so homeowners are knowledgeable about the basics when explaining problems to plumbers and landscapers.
   

We are fortunate to have safe drinking water delivered to our homes and businesses all day, every day. Once it arrives, it’s our responsibility to use it carefully and conserve what we can. After all, it’s what we do for the privilege of living here in the desert.

Fix Leaks. Save Water. Save Money.

The colorful Smart Home Water Guide website and companion booklet is hosted by the AMWUA #SmartPig. A sister website in Spanish is available at www.guiaparadetectarfugas.org , and the printed booklet is available for free in both English and Spanish from your city's water conservation department .

For 50 years, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association has worked to protect our member cities’ ability to provide assured, safe and sustainable water supplies to their communities. For more water information visit www.amwua.org .

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