There are many simple steps you can take in your own home to avoid water waste and improve efficiency. Best of all, everyone can play their part in preserving our city's water resources!

• Check for leaks. Small household leaks can add up to gallons of water lost every day. Common leaks found in the home are worn toilet flappers, dripping faucets, and other leaking valves. These are often easy to fix, requiring only a few tools and hardware that can pay for themselves in water savings. Check out the EPA Fix a Leak Week Website for more information on checking your home for leaks. Toilet Leak Detection Tablets are available for free at Tumwater City Hall (see below).

• Choose efficient fixtures and appliances. One of the simplest ways to save both water and energy is to install water-efficient products. Certification programs like WaterSense and ENERGYSTAR can help you identify products that will maximize efficiency in your home. The City of Tumwater is here to help you improve your home’s efficiency by providing free faucet aerators and showerheads through the Indoor Water Conservation Kit program and offering rebates on toilets and clothes washers (more information below).

• Try the AWE Water Use Calculator. Answer a few simple questions and the Water Use Calculator quickly estimates where and how much water is used in your home. From fixing a leaking toilet to improving the quality of the soil in the yard, the Water Use Calculator recommends specific ways to make your home as water efficient as possible.

Residential water consumption in Tumwater more than doubles on average during the summer months, when scarce rainfall leads to high water use for irrigation. No matter what kind of landscape you have, by following a few simple steps, you can have a water-smart yard that's beautiful, healthy, and easy to maintain:

• Spruce-up your sprinkler system. When it comes to a home's irrigation system, a little maintenance goes a long way. Before you ramp up watering, spruce up your irrigation system by remembering four simple steps: inspect, connect, direct, and select. Visit the EPA Sprinkler Spruce-Up website for more information about readying your system for efficient irrigation this summer.

• Use smart technology. Water efficient technologies help make sure that you water at the right time and give plants only what they need. The City of Tumwater offers a rebate for homes that upgrade to WaterSense labeled irrigation controllers and provides free soil moisture meters and other tools for residents without automated irrigation (see below). WaterSense labeled spray sprinkler bodies, also help decrease outdoor water waste by regulating water pressure to provide a constant flow at the sprinkler nozzle.

• Create a drought-tolerant yard. Turf often requires more watering than other types of plants and groundcover. Consider removing areas of lawn and creating mulched landscape beds with native and drought-tolerant plants that require little supplemental watering. Grouping native plants in zones specific to their watering needs ensures plants are not over or underwatered—and limits water waste!

• Go golden. Many of your neighbors are saving water by letting their lawns go dormant during the summer months. Dormant lawns turn gold during drought but will bounce back in the fall—just water once or twice each rainless month to keep them healthy. Your golden lawn can drastically reduce summer irrigation, saving precious water when we need it most.

Unlock savings and boost efficiency with the City of Tumwater’s water conservation rebates! Residential water customers can earn rebates for installing high-efficiency indoor devices like washing machines and toilets or upgrading your outdoor irrigation system with a smart controller.

The City of Tumwater also provides Water Conservation Kits and Toilet Leak Detection Tablets free of charge to customers to support responsible water use both indoors and outdoors. Stop by City Hall to pick up your free supplies in person (no application or appointment needed)

Visit the Rebates and Incentives page to learn more and start saving today!

Reclaimed water is used water that has been cleaned to a high standard so it can be beneficially reused. LOTT Clean Water Alliance (LOTT) produces Class A Reclaimed Water for reuse by Tumwater, Lacey, and Olympia. LOTT’s Class A Reclaimed Water is continually monitored and tested to ensure that it meets strict quality standards set by the Washington State Departments of Health and Ecology and can be used for almost any purpose except drinking.

In 2015, the City of Tumwater partnered with LOTT on the construction of a 1 million gallon reclaimed water tank that serves as the foundation for Deschutes Valley Park. For over a decade, the City has used up to 600,000 gallons a day of reclaimed water from this storage tank to irrigate the Tumwater Valley Municipal Golf Course without the use of any drinking water. The City is also exploring additional opportunities to use this reclaimed water supply for irrigation.

Every year, the City of Tumwater completes a water system audit and implements controls to minimize system losses. Utilities incur real losses from leakage and apparent losses when customer water consumption is not accurately measured.

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) provides free software to utilities designed to help quantify and track water losses and identify areas for improvement. This tool is the industry standard for conducting an annual water audit and the City of Tumwater uses the results to guide its efforts to continually minimize water losses and improve system efficiency.

Each year, the City of Tumwater evaluates current and forecasted drought conditions, and the effect that any potential drought may have on the utility’s ability to provide water service. Snowpack levels, precipitation, stream flows, and groundwater levels all inform the annual drought assessment. Key resources such as the NOAA Climate Center and USDA Drought Monitor provide much of this data and support the assessment.

If drought conditions occur, the City’s Water Shortage Response Plan will be triggered and customers will be notified about steps that should be taken to conserve water.