Is your home filled with a bunch of clunky, water-wasting appliances? Want to make a fresh start? We asked John Koeller, technical adviser to the California Urban Water Conservation Council and Alliance for Water Efficiency, to help identify the biggest water wasters in the house, and what do about them.

Toilets
Between the numerous four- to six-gallon flushes per day and "silent leaks," toilets waste water-and lots of it. But don't despair: If you need to replace your toilet, you can save water without flushing money down the drain.

High-efficiency toilets (or HETs, as toilet wonks refer to them) have been around for five to six years. These can be toilets that use less water per flush, or newer dual-flush models that offer different options for liquid and solid waste. If you're purchasing one now, water utility offices in California offer substantial rebates, while other states, such as Washington, Texas, Florida, and (soon) New York, are devising programs to help customers with the cost of replacement toilets. Give your state environmental agency a call to find out if rebates or incentives apply to you.

Toilets can range in price, but Koeller cautions that price has almost no relationship to flush performance. Along with Canadian expert William Gauley, Koeller has published a report on flush performance for consumers, architects, and plumbers that can be found on the Web, free of charge. In it, they evaluate models that have excellent performance and are cheap, relatively speaking (the range is from $165 to $300). Coupled with high-efficiency-toilet rebates, that means you could get a new toilet for almost no cost.

Easy tip: If you're not replacing your toilet anytime soon, check out the water level in the toilet tank. Often, in municipal water systems, the water pressure goes up at night as the demand goes down (between 1 a.m. and 3 a.m.), causing the water level in your toilet to go up, over the overflow tube (that 3/4-inch-diameter tube in your tank designed to handle excess water), and continuously down the drain. Make sure the water level in the tank is adjusted to 1 inch below the top of the overflow tube to allow for this rise in water volume.

Washing machines
The laundry room ranks as a close second to the bathroom in its energy- and water-using rates. Washing machines can account for up 26 percent of a home's hot water bill, and conventional appliances can use up to 40 gallons of water per wash-versus 18 to 25 gallons on more efficient models.

If you're looking to replace your clothes washer, look for high-efficiency, front-loading models. Often, they'll have a higher spin speed at the end of a washing cycle, which gets more moisture out of the clothes before they go into the dryer.

Easy tip: While washing machines can be costly, says Koeller, there are some rebates available. And if you're not looking to replace your machine anytime soon, make sure to wash full loads only, and adjust the water level and cycle time for smaller loads, which don't need a full cycle or a full washtub to be cleaned efficiently.

Dishwashers
Dishwashers do save water when compared with washing by hand, but are they really efficient? People often ask about dishwashers, Koeller says. But the rate at which people use this particular appliance is going down. When Energy Star began rating dishwashers, they calculated average water usage based on the assumption that people were running their machines at least once per day. In the last decade or so, however, Koeller says that this number has dropped to only about 215 times per year, mainly because people are eating out more often. Dishwashers, at this less frequent rate, use only about 1 percent of the water in your household, and are not water hogs like toilets and washing machines.

As always, though, if you are considering buying a new dishwasher, do continue to look for the Energy Star-rated models.

Easy tip: Wash full loads in your dishwasher, and switch off the automatic heat-drying function at the end of the cycle. It's unnecessary, and wastes energy.

Irrigation and sprinkler systems
Another place where water goes to waste is outdoors (which, for most folks, is also out of sight): your irrigation and sprinkler system. Nationwide, landscape irrigation accounts for more than 7 billion gallons of water use per day.

If your in-ground irrigation system already runs on a timer, Koeller recommends investing in smart sprinklers-ones that sense soil moisture, or more advanced systems called weather-based irrigation controllers, or WBICs. These devices take historical or current weather data and adjust sprinkler schedules according to the needs of the plants you have on your property. How does this work? A small unit (which replaces the timer on your system) downloads a satellite signal that's in sync with current weather station data (e.g., humidity, amount of rainfall, wind direction and speed). You then program the unit with other important information, including the types of plants in your yard, soil conditions, and sun and shade areas. Once it puts this information together, the WBIC will adjust your irrigation schedule to fit your garden's particular needs.

WBICs can cost a few hundred dollars, but the up-front costs are usually recouped fairly quickly, because of the low maintenance costs for the sturdy units and, of course, the savings on water utility bills. Rebates are also available, in California, for example. Check out some models here.

Easy tip: If WBICs are a bit too technical for your taste, try undertaking simple maintenance on your sprinkler system. Don't sprinkle the sidewalk, for instance. If you have in-ground irrigation, make sure all heads are facing in the right direction and working properly. Repair bad heads and broken pipes, and make sure your timer is working properly.

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