Green for less: Eco-friendly water-saving solutions save money and the environment

No matter the size of your household, you're probably flushing and washing away far more water than you need to. But as utility prices and seasonal water needs climb while drought thresholds fall, the EPA is giving both you and Mother Earth a break with a relatively new WaterSense labeling program that signals super-water-saving eco-friendly solutions.

WaterSense is basically the same as the Energy Star labeling program for appliances and electronics. By making just a few WaterSense-approved changes in your home, you can cut around $170 from the typical annual $500 water bill. By choosing WaterSense fixtures, you can expect a household water savings of 30 percent or more.

WaterSense labeled fixtures include:

High-efficiency toilets (HETs): These operate at 1.28 gallons per flush versus the 3.5 gpf of older, inefficient models, and can reduce water usage by as much as 60 percent.