H2Ohhhhhhhh! We use it to grow food, keep clean, quench thirst, and control fire. It covers about 70% of the earth and even our own bodies are made up mostly of water. We can all agree it’s good to have around. Who doesn’t like swimming in a pool on a hot summer day or taking a warm shower on a cold winter night? We use it to cook and it’s the main ingredient in everyone’s favorite beverage.

But what if it wasn’t easily accessible anymore? What if the costs were too high? What if we had to buy bottled water instead of being able to drink what comes out of our own tap?

Water is essential to sustaining life on our earth and we are depleting the planet’s fresh water faster than it can be naturally replenished. On average, Californian’s use 175-199 gallons of water a day! Water treatment facilities have to run 24/7/365, processing 68 million gallons of wastewater per day.

Luckily there is an alternative that can help preserve our fresh water resources. Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater that is safe to be recycled. Reclaimed water can be used for agricultural irrigation, to irrigate lawns, golf courses, and athletic fields. Using reclaimed water saves money, drinking water sources are reserved, and existing water treatment facilities last longer.

But for those of us who don’t have crops to irrigate and swimming in a pool of reclaimed water just doesn’t sound all that appealing, there are many simple (and some ridiculous) things we can do to conserve water on a daily basis.

By setting your sprinklers with a few more days in between each watering, and watering your lawn only when it is needed, you save 750-1,500 gallons per month. Water your lawn during the cool part of the day, and don’t water on windy days to help to cut down on evaporation.

Don’t run the hose while you wash your car. Instead, put soap and water in a bucket and rinse it off when you are ready. This will save 150 gallons each time you wash your car. Try driving your car onto the lawn to wash it. You’ll have tire tracks on your lawn and most likely mud but the good news is you won’t have to water for a few days.

Install water saving showerheads, turn off the water while you are brushing your teeth, and run only full loads in the dishwasher and washing machine.

Remember: water doesn’t grow on trees, but it will fall out of the sky.