conserve water

I’ve read recently that it would take 10 billion dollars to make sure everyone on earth has clean water. That sounds like a lot until you realize that Americans alone spend 450 billion dollars each Christmas! That’s enough to solve the water crises 45 times over. It also means that if every American gave 4.5% of the amount they spend on Christmas in one year, the crises would be solved that year. That’s 22.50 if you spend $500 at Christmas, 45 dollars if you spend a thousand. It’s these kind of statistics that show you how easy these problems can be solved if only everyone would help a little. It also points out what a disgrace it is that this problem still exists.

I will do the dishes more often, so I am not washing one dish at a time.
I will not dawdle getting into the shower after I’ve turned it on.
I will not stand idly in the shower, unless I am using it for pain relief.

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.

Part of ecological footprint goal.

Might drop this. Lump under eco-friendliness.

- in service of water conservation – is not a viable option, I think I’ve done about all I can for this goal at present.

which has made replacement challenging…and I’m a renter.

Continuing with the greywater watering though. And I’m towel-bathing instead of daily showering.

Just spent time in Africa where bathing from a bucket was routine so feeling good and comfy with continuing this practice.

in the toilet – step one. super easy and hopefully effective. next up – low flow my kitchen sink faucet (bathrooms already done). for the past two weeks, my plants are being watered exclusively with water collected during dishwashing. so far they’re doing great.

Installed a faucet aerator, I’m turning off the water while soaping for hand washing and showering, and not prewashing dishes before loading the dishwasher.

Ooookay… I’m brushing my teeth out of the shower now, using a plastic bottle filled with water in the tank of the toilet for water displacement, being less anal about prewashing dishes before they go in the dishwasher (I guess I don’t trust the dishwasher to get them clean), using handwashing water from throughout the day to fill one side of the kitchen sink for cleaning off recyclables…

Also I’m considering using a bowl of water each day with a little vinegar for handwashing since I wash my hands like 50 times a day (okay, that’s an exaggeration) and probably usually don’t need it, but… I can’t stand thinking there MIGHT be anything semi-gross on my hands. Anyway, I know vinegar is a disinfectant and really good for your skin if you don’t make it too strong… what do you guys think? I can’t help but think there is some drawback, since I’ve never heard of this before. But then again, maybe the environmentally friendly people of the world are less worried about clean hands? lol

Oh. And I want to use rainwater to water my plants. Not just for the water conservation, but because it’s not treated with crap that I’m sure is bad for my plants… BUT I can’t figure out a convenient way to collect it. A bucket doesn’t catch enough for even one watering (like one inch per rainshower… lame). I was considering catching some water out of the rain gutter, but can anyone tell me if there’s chemical crap from the roof that would make the water bad?