Are We Really Saving the Environment when Cloth Diapering?

I have been cloth diapering my youngest child for almost 9 months now. I did wish sometimes I started sooner, with the oldest (I have 3 kids now). I could have saved a lot of having to buy disposable diapers.

Two days ago, I was doing my normal diaper wash day and was stuffing and folding the diapers (while my kids had their naps!) when my mom-in-law walked in to chat a bit. She saw my stash of diapers (BumGenius and Smartipants) and commented on how nice looking and clean they come out after every wash. I then proceeded to tell her of my system (and recommended system by CD sites): "I start with a normal COLD rinse cycle, to take out all of the 'yuckiness', then 1 or 2 HOT normal washes with detergent. And sometimes, I would do 1 more short rinse to take out any detergent residue." She replied with, "Wow, good thing you have free water bill!" (We live out in the country and have a private well so, water is free).

After this discussion, it got me thinking... "Am I really saving on the environment and money with Cloth Diapering?" Just think of how many gallons of water one uses every time we wash diapers, not to mention the detergent and gas/electric bill (to run the hot water and dryer). Let's say on average one does the diaper laundry twice a week. For a top-load, normal full cycle, one would use approximately 40-45 gallons of water per load. And one would do at least 3 cycles per diaper load, twice a week. That is 120-135 gallons of water for diaper laundry day! 240-270 gallons of water for the week, multiply that for the whole year, that is a lot of water usage! If one lives in town with city water, that is a huge water bill!

Well, I am still for cloth diapering, but after realizing this... I am going to find ways to help reduce that figure. Thankfully, there are. According to this site, instead of using Top-Load washers, buy an Energy Saver washer that is Front Load. It cuts the water and energy usage by 70%. That is one way to save!

I am curious to know what my other fellow cloth diapering mom's thoughts are on this subject. What other tips and ways can we save from depleting our natural resources, specifically water. Please leave me a comment.