It’s Springtime! The time of year when Californians work on repairing their lawns and restoring their gardens with bright and colorful plants before the hot days of summer set in.

To help protect nature’s most precious resource and your water bill, Golden State Water is providing customers with the following tips to improve your water use and efficiency this spring:

• Check for surface leaks. Examine faucet gaskets and pipe fittings for any water on the outside of the pipe to check for surface leaks.
• Check for leaky toilets. To check a toilet for silent leaks, put a few drops of food coloring into the tank, wait 10 minutes, and see if the color appears in the bowl before you flush.
• Monitor water use. A good method to check for leaks is to review your winter water during the colder months of winter. It’s likely that a family of four has a serious leak if winter water use has heavily increased.
• Plant drought-resistant landscaping. With spring and summer months arriving, plants that require little to no water can help save water.
• Read your water meter. Check the meter before and after a two-hour period when no water is being used. If the meter does not read exactly the same, you probably have a leak.
• Examine your irrigation system. Inspect your in-ground irrigation system before you use it each spring to make sure it isn’t damaged by frost or freezing.
• Replace fixtures, hardware or appliances if necessary. Look for WaterSense® labeled products that have been independently tested to meet EPA’s standards for water efficiency.

For more water conservation information, including indoor/outdoor water-use efficiency tips, drought-tolerant landscape ideas and the conservation rebates and programs in your area, visit our Conservation Page.