While it is still cold outside, the temperatures have been thawing these last few days and, last month the groundhog predicted an early spring.

During the spring months, the warm weather inspires most of us to get outside and start checking off tasks on our spring cleaning to-do list. But, there are many things that we can do around the house before the spring weather arrives.

During the spring and summer months, a lot of activities that we enjoy doing involve using water. So, now is a great time to make sure that you and your family are practicing good water-saving habits.

Saving water around the home is easy to do with just a few simple behavior changes, and it can have a great impact on your water bill as well as the environment overall.

In fact, throughout the World 97% of the water on our planet is not drinkable. Another 2% is frozen as ice caps and glaciers. This leaves on 1% of water on our planet useable for humans, plants, and animals.

So, saving water and using water responsibly is very important to the health of our planet. Here are some more fun facts about water. Share these with the children in your family for a fun project:

• The average person in the United States uses approximately 88 gallons of water each day. Next time you’re at the grocery store, count 88 gallons of milk in the refrigerator and THAT is how much water each person in your home uses every day.
• If each person in the United States used one gallon of water per day per shower, it would save 85 billion gallons of water per year.
• Each time that you go to a restaurant, and they bring you a glass of water, it takes another two glasses of water to wash that glass.
• Putting a cover on your swimming pool will cut the evaporation loss by 90%, reducing the amount and frequency that you have to fill your pool with water.

Make sure that you and your family are being thoughtful about water-usage during these pre-spring months so that when the spring and summer months finally arrive, there is plenty of water for all of the outdoor activities that you like doing.