Sweep or blow off outdoor patios and driveways rather than using a hose to clean them. Choose water-efficient plumbing fixtures and appliances. Refrigerate a container of water for cold drinking water instead of allowing the faucet to run until the water is cold. Adjust your automatic sprinklers with the seasons. Shut sprinklers off when it is raining and after there has been a heavy rain.
Water lawns early in the morning and avoid watering on windy days to prevent evaporation.
Adjust sprinklers to insure you are not watering the house, sidewalk, or street. Buy a rain gauge to see how much rain or irrigation your lawn has received. Shut the water off when you're finished using it. This sounds like common sense, but a surprising number of people leave water running both in and outside of their houses.