March 8, 2016
Fix a Leak Week in Murphy set for March 14 to 20
MURPHY (March 8, 2016) The City of Murphy is encouraging residents to actively participate in Fix a Leak Week by monitoring their homes for water waste from March 14 through 20, says Candy McQuiston, Customer Service Manager and Chair of the Murphy Green Team.
“Fix a Leak Week is a national effort to help stop the wasting of water due to those small, easily-ignored leaks,” she said. “If everyone took the time to fix the leaks around their homes, we could save a trillion gallons of water nationwide every year. It’s an enormous amount of water that we lose.”
One highlight of the weeklong campaign is the Fix a Leak Workshops put on by Home Depot stores across the nation on Saturday, March 19 from 10 a.m. to noon.
“All of the Home Depot stores in the North Texas area are offering the free workshops on the same day at the same time,” she said. “Anyone who has a leak or who suspects they have a leak should attend.”
Fix a Leak Weeks is sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense® program.
“Studies have shown that about ten percent of homes have leaks that waste 90 gallons or more per day,” added McQuiston. “Those leaks not only waste precious water, they also cost the consumer money, sometimes quite a bit of money.”
Leaks are not confined to any one part of the house as dripping faucets, showerheads, sprinklers, and other fixtures can all be in need of repair. Toilets with silent leaks can be detected by adding a few drops of food coloring into the tank, waiting 10 minutes, and seeing if color appears in the bowl. Sprinkler heads and sprinkler valves, often installed below ground level, can be significant water wasters.
“When looking to replace fixtures, consumers should look for WaterSense-labeled faucets, showerheads and toilets,” she said. “These are independently certified to use 20 percent less water and perform as well as or better than standard models.”
The Home Depot Fix a Leak Workshops will provide information on fixing leaks and replacing fixtures with more efficient models. From 10 a.m. to 10:40 a.m., the workshops will cover repairing or replacing leaking faucets; from 10:40 a.m. to 11:20 a.m., the topic will be repairing or replacing problem toilets; and from 11:20 a.m. to noon, the repair or replacement of faulty sprinkler heads will close the workshops.
For more information on the Fix a Leak Week Workshops, visit www.epa.gov/watersense.
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