Then you’d better catch it! Because a leaky lav could waste hundreds of gallons of water a year. Listen up:
Become an expert when it comes to water-friendly toilet tasks. (via CEA/Flickr)
Would you purposefully flush hundreds of gallons of unused water straight down the drain each day? Probably not—but if you have a leaky toilet, you could be wasting that much without knowing it.
Karen Wirth of the EPA’s WaterSense program explains how to check your toilet for leaks.
“If you have a tank-type toilet, place a few drops of food coloring in the tank. If that color shows up in the bowl within 15 seconds without flushing it, that’s a sure sign that you have a leak in your toilet.”
So try the tank-trick to see if your toilet leaks, and if it does—find the culprit. The most common cause is a worn-out flapper, which is easy and inexpensive to fix.
The best things in life are leak-free (at least in the bathroom).
Do it yourself:
- Read about Fix a Leak Week sponsored by WaterSense, an EPA Partnership Program
- Follow this how-to guide to fix a leaky toilet from This Old House
- Watch a video on how to repair a running toilet, by the Family Handyman
The fine print:
- This segment was produced in partnership with Cornell’s Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future
