Sep 4, 2008 4:17 pm US/Pacific
4 Steps To Save Thousands Of Gallons Of Water
Green Plumber Releases Top Picks For Conservation Tools
Reporting
Sue Kwon
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ―
Leigh Marymor is a self-proclaimed Green Plumber. He has tested dozens of products to come up with the four best changes consumers can make to save thousands of gallons a year.
First, there's the smart faucet. Enter the bathroom and a sensor triggers a hidden pump.
"A motion sensor tells the pump to turn on and take water from the hot side to push it to the cold water pipe and so you turn the hot water tap and instead of getting cold water going down the drain water is instantly hot. There's less water wasted," said Marymor.
The Metlund sensor-on-demand technology ranges from $750 to $1,200.
A less expensive water-saving device is the $45 "Evolve" shower head.
Turn on the spiggot and when the cold turns to hot, the shower head acts like your mother.
"This head shuts itself off until you step in ready for a hot steamy shower," said Marymor.
Once you're in, the shower head mixes a lot of air with the water stream so you get enough water pressure to rinse out the soap without draining our water supply.
"It is a low flow showerhead rather than flow 2.5 gallons a minute it flows at 1.6 gallons a minute. And it saves about 3,000 gallons of water a year per person," said Marymor.
As for toilets, Marymor let fellow plumbers take a "crack" at using them to find the best.
"One after the other, we put them in shops and we had plumbers use them," he said.
The Toto High Efficiency Toilet earned the royal flush ranking. It uses half as much water as a traditional "loo" loses. Without the automatic clean and dry feature most models run $400 on up. But here's where conservation pays.
"Eastbay MUD is offering a $150 rebate on installation of this toilet. Every time you replace a 3.5 gallon tank with an energy efficient toilet that's a good deal," said Marymor.
You may need a plumber to install the toilet, but this final water saving step is simple. A screw-on aerator on your faucet can cut water use in half. They cost $10 at a hardware store or they are free through East Bay MUD.
For more information visit Leigh Marymor's
top water-saving product picks and for
EBMUD's conservation tools.
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