Think about how many times you wash your hands throughout the day. Turning off the faucet while you lather up only takes a second or two and can help save some of our most precious resource–water.
Restaurants and other places that have sensory taps definitely help with the matter, but for those places that don’t, try helping out by reaching over while you soap up, and giving the tap, a little tap!
1000 Ways to Help the World 
Hello readers,
To clarify my post, here are the steps I take to most effectively ‘turn off the tap while soaping up’:
1. Turn on tap and wet hands.
2. Turn off tap (yes, turn it off even though your hand is wet; just give it a little nudge).
3. Lather up
4. Turn on tap (yes, you will get a little bit of soap on the tap, but usually a slight nudge with the pinky finger will do).
5. Rinse hands and turn off tap.
6. Dry hands and if using a towel, use the same towel to quickly wipe the tap.
This whole process really doesn’t take more than 30 seconds or so (unless you like to lather up for longer time periods) and is not as complicated as it may seem. If everyone turned off the tap while lathering instead of leaving the water running, the amount of water saved could make a big impact in helping our planet.
*Disclaimer: This process does not apply to those in the medical field, who unfortunately have to waste a bit more water to ensure higher standards of cleanliness. 😉
I hate to see water wasted. My neighbour used a high pressure washer, for almost an hour, trying to clean 4 pathway stones of the gunk that had collected between them. Why? The gunk will return in a weeks or so. What does it matter? Everyones patio/walkway stones collect gunk. Instead of the water, a small paring knife, a twist of the wrist and a scrubbing brush (and just a little water) would get rid of the gunk. The same neighbour washes leaves from his drive way with a hose (a broom works just as well) and cuts his grass, I swear, twice a week. I cut my grass about twice a season–I like the wild look. Then he waters with a sprinkler from which 50% lands on my drive way. Arghhhhhh-I hate water wasters.
At home I collect the water from the basement dehumidifier and dump it in the washing machine. In the kitchen I dump all that rinse water from washing lettuce, rinsing the coffee cup etc. into a bucket and then use this water in my garden. Did you know that the amount of water used to rinse home grown or local market lettuce free of dirt is enough to bath my 14 lb. dog?
There are so amny ways to conserve water–just stop and think about it sometime.
Sandra