Plumbing Repair Tip: How Much Water Does a Leaky Faucet Waste?

A leaky faucet can be a real annoyance. The rate at which the drips come out can determine how much water you are actually losing on a given day, week, or even year. For a home that has one leaky faucet which drips only once a minute, that is the equivalent of 1,440 times a day. Although it may not seem like a significant number, over the course of a year that single drip will equal 34 gallons. If you happen to have two leaky faucets in your Ham Lake home which each drip on average 10 times a minute, you will be losing over a gallon of water a day from each, or over 694 gallons a year. Many faulty faucets can drip much more often than that, even up to a drip a second. When this happens, one faucet alone can cost you five gallons a day or 2,082 gallons a year. If you’re interested in just how much water your home is losing due to one or more leaky faucets, there is a great website that will calculate it for you. The U.S. Geologic Survey has a quick drip calculator anyone can use to figure it out. What may seem like a little, insignificant drip can wind up being a lot of wasted water and money, literally going right down the drain. In addition to losing water and increasing your water bill, this wasted water can have a negative impact on the environment, especially for people living in areas with drier climates or places that haven’t gotten as much rainfall as normal. When water isn’t conserved or is wasted, the supply can’t be replenished and the entire ecosystem will suffer as a result. To save you both the annoyance and increased cost on your water and energy bills, call an Ham Lake plumber at Air Mechanical to come and fix the problem or install a new faucet. Leaky faucets are usually a quick fix that can end up saving you money the minute they quit dripping.