Celebrate Earth Day with Better Plumbing

With Earth Day coming up on the 22nd, our team at Plumbing Paramedics is looking forward to an excuse to spend some extra time outside and use less power. However, the thing we’re probably most excited about is working with Calgary homeowners to improve their home’s water efficiency. After all, Earth Day is just one day of the year, but Canadians use water every day — we should endeavor to reduce our water consumption as much as possible year round. 

High Efficiency Showerheads.

One of the best places to save water is through high efficiency showerheads. Canadians are extremely hygienic. While many hair and skin specialists recommend washing and shampooing at most every other day, most Canadians still shower or bathe every day. 

With a population of just under 38 million, that’s a lot of showers! 

In the average Canadian household, showering accounts for 19% of total water usage. A typical, individual Canadian uses over 15,000 litres of water showering every year. Investing in a high efficiency showerhead, saves about 3600 litres per person annually. For a family of four, that’s savings equivalent to one person not showering for the whole year!

Get Leaks Fixed.

The drip, drip, drip of a leaky faucet is extremely annoying. Beyond being a pain though, it’s also wasteful. A moderate leak of about one drip per second wastes more than 11,000 litres of water in the year. That’s (almost) the same as paying for a whole extra person to be showering at your house everyday for a year. With so much money dripping down the drain, it just makes sense to have a Calgary plumber fix any leaks as soon as possible.

Dual Flush, High Efficiency Toilets.

Another easy place to save water and money is with your toilet. A typical older toilet uses around 13 litres of water per flush; the oldest toilets that are still in use flush twice that, over 26 litres! A dual flush, high efficiency toilet is about 70% more efficient than that requiring under 5 litres per flush on average. These toilets get their extra efficiency by taking advantage of a “half-flush” when there aren’t any solid wastes. Since most people pee 6-8 times a day and poop far less frequently, allowing half flushes is a far more effective way of removing liquid wastes. Stop flushing money away! Work with your friendly, Calgary plumber to install a new, high efficiency dual flush toilet.

At Plumbing Paramedics, we take helping Calgarians to improve their water footprint very seriously. The best ways to do this are to use high efficiency appliances, showerheads, faucets, & toilets and also limit water waste by having leaks fixed. We hope that all Canadians take Earth Day as a reminder to help improve their water efficiency every day instead of just for one day. Our Calgary plumbers can help. Give us a call.