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Simple Steps

Surprising Ways to Save Water

By Dana Courtney for Green Goes Simple

Get Two Dishes for the Price of One

When boiling a pot of water for pasta, place a steamer basket filled with veggies on top. You’re making steam, anyway, so why not use it to steam vegetables for a side dish? You’ll reduce the amount of water used to make your meal and have two dishes instead of one.

Photo: @iStockphoto.com/Flory

Water Plants With Leftovers

When rinsing fruit or other lightly soiled items, do so over a container in the sink. Also collect the water from drained pasta and all those half-empty water glasses. Use all this leftover H2O to give your houseplants a water-conserving drink!

Collect Water Outside

Put those rainy days to work by collecting rainwater in specialized barrels and then using it for gardening. For a fun experiment with your kids, Trask suggests creating a DIY solar-powered water distillery. It may sound scientific, but it’s actually easy!

Photo: @iStockphoto.com/Dorin_S


Let the Kids Play!

Kids love playing with sprinklers and the garden hose on hot summer days. This may not always be a great use of water, but you can use it to your advantage. Have a dry patch of grass on your lawn? Put the hose or sprinkler there and let the kids frolic. Who says conservation can’t be fun?

Photo: @iStockphoto.com/bradleym

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Dana Courtney is a writer, yoga instructor and whole-foods educator in New York City, where she strives to help others create harmonious, connected lives. Her articles have previously appeared on Green Goes Simple.

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