Summer Fun Tips for the Water Conscious

 
When the summer arrives, the weather heats up and the days get longer. There is also a need to try and conserve water and not to be wasteful.
This can be a challenge, while still allowing kids to enjoy the summer fun, but it is possible with a little creativity.

Try Xeriscaping

It’s a radical move, but it can save you a lot of money for water usage in the long term. Instead of simply changing your yard’s look with new landscaping, try a very specific technique, known as “xeriscaping,” which can reduce your water usage for the yard from 50-75%.
Xeriscaping employs many different techniques and has different looks depending on the yard, but the goal is the same.
Xeriscaping originally began as a method of creating a pleasing landscape in drought-ridden areas. Those same techniques, however, such as strategically using local plant life, with lower water demands, also translates to homes and yards where owners simply want to use less water, but still have a striking natural environment.

Wash Your Car at a Professional Facility

Another big drain on water during the summer is cleaning a car. Hosing a car down means that a lot of water is instantly spent once it comes out the hose.
Washing the car, then rinsing it, sends water pouring off your vehicle, down the driveway, onto the street, and eventually into the sewer.
By taking your car to a carwash, whether one that is automatic, or self-serve, you are much more efficient with water usage. Professional facilities have high-efficiency hoses that use less water, and even the water that flows away may be collected, recycled and used again.

Set Up a Water Wall

For younger children of the toddler set, a water wall is a fun, interactive water activity that doesn’t use huge amounts of water.
Get a board or any other structure capable of standing vertically. Now attach funnels, pipes, and anything else that permits water flow. Keep a container filled with water ready at the bottom.
Now, when you bring the little ones to the water wall, give them plastic cups or other containers and watch as they pour water through the various pipes and other fixtures, watching the way it flows down.
This is a stimulating activity for young children, and, with parental interaction, can keep them occupied for quite some time.