We visited the Midtown Global Market yesterday. I didn’t know that Do It Green! was located there. They offer workshops, the Do It Green Directory, and a website with quite a few resources.

I picked up their Home Water Audit Checklist. We do “okay” but not great (seems like we’ve always got at least one toilet that’s running somewhere). I’m always looking for additional things we can try. Here are a few things I can change:

• For hand-washing dishes, fill a tub with rinse water rather than rinsing under running water
• Rinse fruits and veggies in a pan of water rather than under running water
• To see if water is seeping into the toilet bowl without flushing, put food coling in the tank and watch for color in the bowl. Fixing a leak like this can save up to 1,000 gallons a month.
• Upgrade older toilets with water efficient and dual flush models. (I saw several models at Natural Built Homes on Minnehaha when I was at their warehouse sale (they weren’t on sale)).
• When upgrading appliances, consider replacing water-cooled models with air-cooled ones (refrigerators, air conditions). I didn’t even know these were water cooled.
• Put your sprinkler on a timer. We got a timer when we were working with the Permaculture Institute last year – I had been overly generous with watering before that.
• Let grass go dormant during summer – dormant grss only needs to be watered every 3 weeks (or less if it rains).
• Don’t water lawn on windy days

I didn’t know this: soft drinks and other highly processed drinks require up to twice as much water to produce as is found in the end product.