Saving water starts at home. We in the United States have likely never had to deal with severe dehydration, although many areas in the South West US are now facing severe water crises and long term droughts that threaten the habitability of the region. In these areas there are strict controls over the use of water for “extraneous” purposes, like watering lawns, washing cars, etc. It’s gotten so bad that in many areas people are forced to brush their teeth with bottled water, as there is barely any water in the pipes.

While we’ve been able to essentially turn a blind eye to the issue of water shortages throughout our history, it’s becoming more apparent that this is not a long term strategy. Here we share one tip that can help converse water in your home and help your city or locality to better deal with water shortages.

Washing Machines – A Huge Waste of Water

While water is essential for the body (even a sedentary person needs a half gallon of water a day to survive), the vast majority of the water we use does not actually go into our bodies. From washing our hands, washing our dishes, flushing toilets and washing our clothes, the amount of water we use (and arguably waste) everyday is astounding.

Everybody needs to keep clean (wash their hands and have clean clothes), so there’s no way to completely eliminate these items from our day to day lives, but there are ways to conserve and cut down on this excessive usage. Today we’ll talk about one of the most effective ways to do this, i.e. being picky and strategic in your use of the washing machine.

The Front Load Washer – More Efficient, but more Expensive

Ever wonder why laundromats all use front load washer dryers? Is it because of convenience? Or so that we can all watch the clothes as they spin around in the gentle cycle? Actually, the more likely reason is that is drastically reduces the water bill of the laundromat. Think about it, if you have a top loading washer, you need to fill the water all the way to the top in order to submerge all the clothes. With a front load washer, only filling half way (or less) will still insure all clothes are submerged, since the spinning action will bring all the clothes down into the water on each spin. Or, as the California Consumer Energy Center says more succinctly: “Clothes tumble in and out of a small pool of water at the bottom of the horizontally oriented stainless steel drum. ”

There’s also additional benefits as well, include “squeezing more water out of the clothes” so that it can reduce drying time in a dryer. This will ultimately save the homeowner (or business owner) money on energy bills. More and more of these “horizontal axis” washers are making their way into the residential market, including some of the best stackable washer and dryer combos equipped with EnergyStar certifications and all the latest technology. It makes perfect sense to make the switch to a more efficient, water and energy friendly appliance if you have the capability to do so.

Tactics for Reducing Use of Appliances

While getting the best technology is a perfect way to reduce waste and unnecessary use of water, perhaps a more fundamental change that can be extremely effective is to reduce the amount of use of the appliances. A couple of tactics for this approach are listed below:

Do larger loads in the washer, smaller in the dryer. Get the most for your money in the washing machine, so you don’t need to fill again with water. However, do smaller batches in the dryer so that the clothes can actually dry in less than 40 minutes.



This gives a glimpse of what life can be like in areas without access to clean water. Thankfully we have the wealth to get us through the issues that face the Southwest and other regions in the US, but billions of people around the world don’t have that privilege, and are faced with life or death decisions everyday. That is why Wine to Water and other charities have tried so hard to both spread awareness of the global water crises and raise funds to make a difference and ultimately end the water crisis around the world.

To donate to Wine to Water, click here now. You donation will help save lives.