101 Way to Conserve Water in College - Part 1: In the Dorm

A lot of businesses, households and campuses have recently adopted water conservation plans to save money and protect the environment, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us. Those of us in the developed world use inordinate amounts of water for personal use, and most of it isn’t used efficiently. With each extra utensil used or toilet flushed, water is wasted, and you can imagine how much water that adds up to on a college campus. Here are 101 ways to conserve water in college, whether you’re a student, college president or professor.

In the Dorms

From laundry to showering, here are ways you and your roommates can save water every day.

1. Take a home water audit: Print out this audit so that you and your roommate can evaluate your current water usage, and then trim it down.
2. Turn water off when brushing your teeth: And while shaving or even washing your face. Turn it on when it’s time to rinse.
3. Check for leaks: Report them to maintenance ASAP to avoid mildew and mold, and of course, water waste.
4. Take shorter showers: Americans use 1.2 trillions of gallons of water taking showers each year. Spend shower time cleaning yourself, not just standing there zoning out.
5. Only wash clothes when you have a full load: This shouldn’t be too hard for students who wait until the last minute to do laundry. Just make sure you have a full load, or else you’re wasting water and energy on a half load.
6. Put rocks in your toilet: Placing pebbles in your tank restricts the amount of water that fills the bowl back up, using less water per flush.
7. Test your toilet for leaks: Put a drop of food coloring into the tank. If the color bleeds into the toilet bowl without flushing, there’s a leak you need to report.
8. Turn water pressure down when adjusting temperature: Instead of blasting the shower while you wait for it to get hot, turn the water down during the adjustment process.
9. Flush sparingly if you’re in a single: If you’ve got a lot of suitemates or just a bathroom down the hall, you’ll have to flush every time out of courtesy and personal hygiene. But if you’re in a single, wait until you have to do the Number 2 to flush.
10. Shower with a buddy: Waste less water from showering by doing it with a buddy. Just make sure you’re not in there too long.
11. Don’t use the toilet for arbitrary flushes: Throw cigarette butts and bugs in the trash, instead of sacrificing the 5-7 gallons of water it takes to flush.
12. Wash clothes in cold water: This saves energy and water.
13. Turn off water while you wash your hair: If you need a longer shower, turn off water while you let shampoo or conditioner soak in.
14. Wash your face in the shower: Since the water’s already on, wash your face in the shower instead of turning the faucet on at your sink.
15. Flush toilets with shower water: Keep a bucket in the shower with you, and use the collected water to flush toilets.
16. Take fewer showers: You’ll need to bathe every day, but if you plan on working out, schedule your shower for after exercise instead of doubling up.
17. Use a low-flow shower head: Ask residential life about a new system, or put one in yourself if you’re in an apartment.
18. Combine laundry with a buddy: If you use utility sized laundry machines at a laundry mat and can’t fill it yourself, ask a buddy to put his or her clothes in, too, and you can split the cost.
19. Reuse towels: Don’t throw towels into the laundry after only using them once: they’re still clean.
20. Wear your jeans again: Here’s another excuse to be lazy: you can wear your jeans a few times before washing them, too.
21. Don’t separate your laundry too specifically: When you use cold water, your colors aren’t as likely to bleed. Just remember that the first couple of times you wash a colored item, be more careful about separating from your whites.

Thanks to Jasmine Hall with Online Classes for this great content!