Conserving water in your home might be easier than you think, and small changes in your water use at home can make a big impact for our environment.

Every family can make simple changes in its lifestyle that can save hundreds of gallons of water a week. And saving water can save you money on your utility bills.

So, since saving is a win-win situation for everyone, here are some simple tips everyone can try at home:

Slightly cut shower times

This is an easy one that for everyone in the family, and here's how it works. New shower heads use up to 2.5 gallons a minute. (If you have an old water-guzzling shower head, you need to change it to meet the new codes.)

In a family of four, if everyone cuts just one minute off their daily shower, that can save at least an average of 10 gallons of water a day with no noticeable difference in lifestyle. This also will save on energy bills since less hot water needs to be generated.

Change all your faucet aerators

This is another easy one that no one will notice. At the end of most faucets is a little round fitting with a screen called an aerator. In most cases they simply unscrew from the spout, which lets you clean them out — or in this case, replace the standard faucet ones with new "water saving" aerators now available.

Water saving aerators use an average of 1.5 gallons a minute and that's about a 30% savings over standard two-and-a-half gallon-per-minute aerators. Again, a big savings in water consumption without doing a lot of work.

Touchless faucets

Another great idea is installing touchless faucets in places like a child's bathroom. We have all seen the automatic faucets in public restrooms, but now they are making their way into many private homes because they make a lot of sense.

Touchless bathroom faucets use only the water that is needed since they will not run unless something — hands or a toothbrush — is under the spout. This will prevent children from leaving the faucet on and running out of the bathroom and save hundreds of gallons of water that would normally just run down the drain. This option can be a little pricey, but well it's worth it.

Install a HET'

"HET" stands for "high-efficiency toilet." Most new toilets flush with 1.6 gallons of water, and older toilets use a lot more than that. HET toilets flush with 1.3, or less.

This scares some people because they think less water will give a less powerful flush. However, new HET toilets that carry the EPA "Water Sense" label have been tested and certified to deliver a strong flush with less water. This label will help guide you to the best toilets to purchase. Cutting your toilet flushing water by installing a HET can save you 2,000 to 5,000 gallons of water a year, per toilet. This is an incredible saving, and, again, it will not drastically change your lifestyle.

There you have it, my list of water saving tips that conserve without changing the lifestyle you and your family enjoy. If every person who reads this column does just one of them, the overall water savings for our environment will be incredible.

I usually end this column with a little joke, but this is no joke. Nobody is inventing any new water, and we need to save what we have left. If we don't, sooner or later we could run out of our running water.

(Master Contractor/Plumber Ed Del Grande is known internationally as the author of the book "Ed Del Grande's House Call" and for hosting TV shows on Scripps Networks and HGTVPro.com. For information visit eddelgrande.com or write eddelgrande(at)hgtvpro.com. Always consult local contractors and codes. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)