DC Water and Sewer Authority

Drips in your home can waste thousands of gallons of water

Dripping faucets and whistling or hissing toilets waste water, even when no one is using them! Toilets often have "silent" leaks, too.

Here's a handy way to discover a leak (do this with an adult):

Carefully take off the top of the toilet tank

Put 12 drops of red food coloring into the tank.

Wait 15 minutes. If any red dye appears in the toilet bowl, water is leaking from the tank. Ask an adult to fix it.

Using water wisely saves in more ways than one!

Energy - such as from electricity, oil, and natural gas - heats water for washing, and runs appliances that use water. So, when you save water, your family spends less money on energy.

Drip, Drip, Drip

One gallon of water is made up of about 15,000 drips. That's a lot of drips, but they can add up quickly!

How many homes are on your street or apartments in your building? Figure out how much water would be wasted during a year if each dripped away one gallon of water a week.

Number of homes or apartment:

Multiply by one gallon per house or apartment and by 52 weeks in a year. The total gallons per year:

Now that's a lot of wasted drips!