Confessions of a chronic water waster.....

[marmar]

As part of a project at work, each of the people in my department was assigned a "sustainable living" task. Mine is to cut down dramatically on water usage.
I like to think of myself as an environmentally conscious, responsible person (I recycle and take a reusable canvass bag grocery shopping), but the water assignment proved otherwise. I'm unconsciously a huge water waster - I take 20 minute showers, never turn off the tap when I'm brushing my teeth and use the dishwasher way too often. The week that I've been cutting back on water usage has shown me that I can get perfectly clean with a five-minute shower, there is absolutely no good reason to leave the water running while I'm brushing my teeth, and six coffee cups, two plates and a few pieces of silverware don't justify running the dishwasher.
In Michigan, where we sit on 20 percent of the world's fresh water supply, it's easy to take water for granted. Not any more, not for me. Not when children in much of the world are drinking contaminated water.
It's a 12-step program, but at least I can now admit that I'm a recovering water-waster. :)

[beyurslf]

1. I still struggle with the water on while I brush my teeth. I don't know why I leave it on.

When I notice it is running, I am always like--I am wasting a ton of water and will brush my teeth and watch it run while I think about how much I am wasting. Usually, after about 10 seconds of that, I turn it off. I do it too when I clean off the counters in the kitchen or bathroom. I just let the water sit there and run while I am wiping everything down. I don't know why.
I am also very bad using hot water for things that don't require hot water. Things like rinsing off the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher, or using hot water to brush my teeth, or hot water to rinse off potatoes or other veggies. I don't know why I do it.

[marmar]

2. Same with me....

Join me in recovery, my water-wasting brother! :)

[beyurslf]

3. I always feel a little embarassed too....like the water gods are watching and

shaking their heads in disbelief.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. I brush in the shower, while rinsing my hair...

but I'm really bad in the kitchen. :(

[Kurovski]

23. It took me about a year before I finally and consistently turned off the water when brushing.

And that was about sixteen years ago. I now always turn it off, and then turn it on only to rinse.

Keep at it, no matter how long it takes to break the "running faucet" habit.

[pansypoo53219]

24. i waste water.

living next to lake michigan, but i don't even rinse my teeth.

[Kurovski]

25. You don't rinse the toothbrush?

That's what I rinse.

[Erika]

4. K & R

We're doing the same. Also, rather than running a few small loads of laundry during the week, we run just one big one. We're also storing rare rain water in containers to use later on the plants and flowers.

If we all made adjustments, it would make a difference.

[marmar]

5. "If we all made adjustments, it would make a difference."

Agreed.....Good call on the rainwater for plants.

[bobbolink]

30. Another one for plants...

When I'm running the water to wait for it to turn hot (or...cold, depending), I stick a milk jug under the faucet, and use that for watering plants, too.

Having grown up in the southwest, I well know the value of water.

Milagro Beanfield War, anyone? :hi:

[beyurslf]

34. Why don't they have something that recycles the water in the house?

Couldn't something be invented to do this rather than letting all that water go down the drain and to waste?

[bobbolink]

35. I think there is.

Somebody in one of the posts talked about "grey water", and I think there is a system for that.

It's not something I can afford, so I'm just talking about the things I can do.

[Kingshakabobo]

6. Fix those leaky faucets..................

Drip waste calculator:

http://www.gdrc.org/uem/water/drip-calculator.html

[IndyOp]

8. One day at a time, friend.

Have you critiqued your exterior water use? Sprinklers, hoses, pools, washing cars...?

:shrug:

I don't water my lawn at all, but I do water plants and I've got to be more careful about leaving the hose on! :blush:

[Erika]

9. We replaced our two outside water valves which dripped

$150 per valve. Ouch. However, we also had the worst West Nile record in the country last year so the replacements served two causes.

[Blue Diadem]

10. We just got a water barrel for under one of the eves spouts

So far I've emptied it twice using the water for the garden and the flower pots. It holds 50 gallons and it's quite surprising how fast the barrel will fill up with just one side of the garage roof going into it.

[woodsprite]

17. We're running an 80gal and a 55gal. It rained so hard the other

night that they both filled and popped the top on the 80 gal. We use that water for our garden. Hubby has a solar pump and drip irrigator to do both gardens. It's been working great so far. He got the solar pump thru Gardener's Supply, but the barrels were 'donated' to us from his brother's work. ;)

[Blue Diadem]

19. A solar pump sounds like a good idea.

I've just been hand hauling the water. I'll have to check out the Gardener's supply.

You're lucky you were able to get the donated barrels. I'd like to get a couple for other roof areas but they are so expensive.

[scarletwoman]

11. Heh. I've lived without running water for over 9 years now -- I can't afford to get a well dug.

Let me tell you, there's NOTHING that makes a person more water conscious than knowing that you have to haul every single drop that you use.

;)

sw

[marmar]

12. Yikes....I bet that would make you more water conscious.

I'm all the more humbled.

[scarletwoman]

16. I was kind of thinking that maybe imagining that you had to hand carry every bit of water you use,

could be a helpful exercise. Anyhow, as you can probably imagine, I can't STAND to waste any water!

[here_is_to_hope]

21. Same with our place in

Montana...water is down at 600', we built a cistern and really conserve every drop.
Learned a lot about compost toilets!

[kineneb]

13. I try to limit water usage

(I have to admit that many Californians do this as a matter of course, and then others wash down their driveways...)

-rose bushes are on drip line, used with kitchen timer
-garden watered with recycled gallon milk jugs (drip hole near bottom)
-fruit trees watered with 5-gal bucket (also with hole drilled near bottom)
-no lawn, few non-edible landscaping plants
-shower max. of every other day, limit time
-front-loading clothes washer
-only run dishwasher when full
-dirt is a paint preserver for the car, wait for fall rains to clean it off...

I try, especially since our sewer charge is based on our water usage.

[anakie]

14. In Brisbane, capital city of Queensland, Australia

a population of over 1million people, our dam capacity is at less than 20% full. Brisbanites are being urged to get by on 140 litres per person per day; approx 37 us gallons. Financial penalties will be applied to those who exceed this amount. Seems like quite a lot per day on paper but in reality is quite tough to meet.

Australia, and particularly the south east, is in the grips of our worst drought in a century - this dispite the flooding that occured around Sydney this weekend.


Peace

[yewberry]

15. Yay, you!

It's great that you're paying attention and really thinking about the little stuff that adds up!

I "spend" water as though it were money--and I have very little of that. My husband thinks I'm a little strange sometimes, but doesn't give me a hard time about it.

I don't run the water when I brush. I don't run the water when I wash my hands, either! (I wash very well because I work with little kids--ew--and it takes a little time.) The dishwasher or laundry get used only when there is a full load. Our outside plants are positioned to catch rainwater, and I keep the watering can out there, too.

Here's where I really start to drift into weirdness: showers are short...I even feel funny letting the water heat up, so I usually get into the shower while it's still running cold. Brr. If I have to exfoliate or shave my legs or something, I shut the shower off for that, too.

I won't burden your psyche with flushing habits.
:blush:

Congratulations on your dramatic change! It's amazing how small adjustments add up!

[Marblehead]

18. we save our

gray water(laundry) for the garden. Washing machines use allot of water, it is a waste not to use it and the plants love it...(no bleach)

[Javaman]

32. How do you recover the water?

We use environmentally safe detergent, however, (prepare for dumb question) is it safe for the garden?

[Marblehead]

33. take the drain hose

and divert it to a containter(at least 20 gallon), safe for garden if you don't use bleach, the plants do very well.

[ellie]

20. My 12-step program

was my father yelling at me when I was growing up to not waste water. I take very brief showers and shut the water off when I am brushing my teeth and washing my hair. It's like second nature now!

[AwakeAtLast]

22. My husband had to take combat showers in Iraq

You get about thirty seconds of water, soap up (but not too much), then 30 seconds to rinse.

I don't really want to have to do that, but it does make me think that process is what we all should be doing.

BTW, since he came home, he likes the occasional 20 minute shower. ;)

[DemoTex]

29. Modified Navy shower .. I still do it most of the time.

Water on: Wet skin and hair
Water off: Soap and shampoo
Water on: Rinse

In Viet Nam we did the 30-sec drill too. Because the water was so damn cold.

Don't flush toilet so much, either. Flush #2s, but let #1s build up.

Replace old water-using appliances (when that time comes) with water-saving models. Fisher-Paykel makes an excellent clothes washer with an automatic water level and a 1000-RPM spin cycle (reduces drying time). Fisher-Paykel also makes a two-drawer dishwasher with several energy and water-saving features.

I am also highly motivated to keep as much water as possible out of my expensive dual grinder-pump (lift-pump) waste handling system. The grinder pumps cycles (on/off) are controlled by a float switch in the holding tank. While I want enough flow-through to keep the tank purged, I also want to minimize grinder-pump cycling to maximize pump life.

[KT2000]

26. Teeth brushing !!

A woman on TV showed three gallon jugs of water and said that is how much water is used every time a person brushes their teeth without turning the water off.
It convinced me!

[truedelphi]

27. Good work and kudos for cleaning up your act but

First of all, the water districts control the water.

If the residential populace cuts back on their water, the water district will then encourage building (after all, they are trying to get the most money they can for their water)

Even after living in "open space" conscious Marin County, the excess water was given to lots of offices and office parks that were allowed to be built during the 20+ years I lived there. (It was much harder to get a permit to build houses - but offices were built all over the place.)

I complained to the water board about this some two years ago - they assured me that the people that come in to the offices for the long work day do not use any water (?!?)

[canetoad]

28. Here in south eastern Australia

Melbourne, to be exact, we face the very real possibility of our main storage dams running dry this year or next.

For the last four or five years we have lived with water restrictions. Some people have tried to turn it to political benefit, but the reality is we must treat every drop as gold. Actually fuck that, you cannot drink gold when the tap goes dry.

I find water wasteage as repellant as drunk driving, unkindness to small animals and national socialism. If you accept that climate change is a given, then you cannot possibly expect continuing supplies of nice clean rain to fall precisely on the catchment areas.

Just to give you a taste of how we live:
No hoses to wash cars or concrete driveways
Watering gardens only 2 hrs per week (at set times)
No sprinklers
Limited or no irrigation (resulting in high veg prices)

The main thing is we are all in this together. If there is no rain, money cannot buy you a position of advantage. Despite the restrictions, people in general here are working together to minimise water usage as much as we can. While you may have plentiful water, enough to let run down the drain, has the future implication of sustained drought ever crossed your mind?

[bobbolink]

31. What a great idea for a workplace! I hope you will post what the

other groups come up with for the other issues.

Thanks. :hi:

[InvisibleTouch]

36. My tiny little contribution:

I have a dehumidifier in my basement that fills up every other day or so. I use the water that accumulates in the tank to water my flowers. Of course I also think about the electricity used by the dehumidifier, but if I didn't use it, the basement would be unlivable.

The plants also get the siphoned water from my fishtank, when I'm making a water change every 2 weeks or so. As an added bonus, that water has nutrients the plants love.

And if I lived in a year-round hot climate, I would install the type of "shower" that I experienced in Indonesia - a tiled basin from which you scoop out water with a bowl, dump it over yourself (water runs down into a drain in the floor), soap up, then scoop out more water to rinse. I guess I could perform that same sequence under the shower, but most of the year the ambient temperature is just too cold for me to stand it.