conserve water

This is one of those things that’s never really done. There’s always another place to save water—more rain collection, better drip irrigation, greywater reuse, etc. But I’ve installed some rain barrels, bought and installed a low-water-use toilet and washing machine, put in a water-saving shower head with an “off” button, and started using a shower timer. The low-hanging fruit has been plucked.

Thanks to Gristmill and Salon, I learned yesterday that it takes roughly 25 bathtubs-full of water to grow enough cotton for a t-shirt. So, if I buy a lousy two t-shirts a year, in water terms it’s as if I take an extra bath almost every week. Given, the water doesn’t come from my part of the world, which is nice for me, but not so great for, e.g., the Aral Sea, what little is left of it.

I’ll be thinking about that next time I’m in the market for new clothes. And what I’ll be thinking more strongly is, “How much do I really need this thing?” Come to think of it, if I lost a little more fat, I could go “shopping” in my own storage boxes.

The textile industry looks so bizarre to me anyway. Talk about externalizing costs.

The next step for us, it turns out, is to build an enormous water barrel array to hold water for the garden. We’ve just gotten three big food-grade plastic barrels (they used to hold cheap sherry) and hope to get a few more.

Well, it’s been about five weeks since I coughed up a good chunk of money for a fancy new water-conserving washing machine, and we still have no fancy new water-conserving washing machine. What we have received is an enormous pile of junk and a bunch of broken promises and procrastinatory jabber from the worthless skunk who runs Almvig’s Appliance.

Today, fed up with the time we’ve wasted on this problem, my husband and I came in and insisted that he take back his hunk of junk. Twice during our conversation he insisted, “I don’t build the machines, I just sell them.” This seems to be one of his favorite sayings. The guy takes no responsibility for the reliability of the goods he sells.

I’d planned to buy several more appliances, countertops, and perhaps design services. Not from Almvig’s, that’s for sure.

But any day now we’ll be conserving wash-water. Really. Or so I’m told.

Our washing machine has begun to conk out, and we’ve gotten a little windfall, so we’re splurging on a new front-loader that uses much less water. (The old top-loader has gone to be reconditioned and sold.)

Unfortunately, the Whirlpool Duet that arrived today? A lemon. We’re waiting to get a call back from the repair people.