According to Mindfully.org, “the average [American’s] individual daily consumption of water is 159 gallons,” while people in other countries live off of a small 25 gallons. Americans use a lot of water by performing everyday activities like bathing, going to the bathroom, washing dishes, cleaning the house and doing laundry.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also reports that 36 states could experience water shortages as a result of increased water usage by the year 2013. Why not try to reduce your water waste in an effort to help improve upon the problem? There are plenty of eco-friendly plumbing fixtures out there that will reduce unnecessary amounts of water consumption.

• Aerators for the kitchen and bathroom faucets may cost anywhere between $10 and $20 and easily attach to your existing faucet. You control the water pressure by pushing down for a multiple steam spray or up for a splash-free bubble steam.

• Low-flow showerheads work the same way as aerator faucets. They have been designed to reduce the droplet size of the water and instead focus on steam, which still gives you the same sensation as would a huge blast of water as it cascades down your back. However, one issue people run into with low-flow showerheads in scalding, usually if a toilet in the house is flushed while they’re taking a shower. This problem can be fixed by hiring a plumber to install an anti-scald valve. You could even try to take matters into your own hands by lowering the temperature of your water heater to 120 F.

• Dual flush toilets give you a choice between two flushes, with one for solid waste and one for liquid waste. Essentially, you’ll use less water to flush less waste. You can achieve this by lightly (and quickly) pushing the lever to flush the toilet. If you were to push the lever all the way down and hold it there for a brief moment, the second, more powerful flush would activate. Although this may sound like a complicated process, it’s not. And you’ll be used to the whole dual-flush concept after just one use.

• Multi-spray nozzles can easily be attached to a garden hose outside the house. Some of them are equipped with up to seven different settings, allowing you to choose the amount of water pressure used. A mist mode is generally the lowest setting on the nozzle, and you may find that it is all you need for washing exterior windows or even a vehicle.

By making simple, and sometimes inexpensive, changes, you can help to alleviate the problem of excessive water consumption in America. As the EPA suggested, it’s only a mater of time before more than half the country may suffer from a lack of this precious resource.