It is in my opinion that in order to truly conserve water in a way that will really make a difference there needs to be a different way of thinking and a willingness to alter the way we live. We have been living as though we are rich kings and queens with unlimited resources never heading the warnings of the peasant who are warning us there is a problem. Most people just continue using and abusing resources.
"The survival rule of thumb is: 3 hours without shelter, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food."
Take a look around you if you live in Texas. If you don't live here I will provide videos of some reality checkers. Ponds have dried up. Lakes have shriveled in size. Yes, we have aquifers however we have companies like Ozarka mass producing from the same aquifers we live on. (Ozarka bottles in Texas even during drought times.)
First I would ask that people stop buying bottle water.
My saying is, “If your solution effects me in a negative manner then it is not a solution. It is simply another problem you just decided to pass along to me.”
How are people to survive when companies are bottling water and ship it all over the world that they NEED to live on? It would be better to invest that money into bettering the water supply in your own area as a whole. Some argue that the company creates jobs locally. That will not do the area any good if they can not live there. They will end up having to move somewhere they can live and lastly the company will shut down and move it’s operation to a new location and do the same thing all over again.
Next I would ask you to take a look around and see what areas you use water and are they really necessary? Is it necessary to wash off your patio? Is it necessary to water your lawn? Do you really need your car washed?
Do you have a gutter system on your home? Have you thought of a rain catch system? Yes, you can buy those expensive things that are actually cheap and easy to make yourself. A few years back we purchased a food grate 55 gal. container from the local feed store in McKinney, Texas for just $8. You simply cut a hole large enough in the lid for the incoming water from your gutter downspout. Use a screen for filtration. Add a attachment on the lower end of the container for water removal and you have a rain catch system. Simple and pretty inexpensive. We have a 330 gal. container that we plan on doing rain catch with from our barn to water our livestock. It is just finding the gutter as we are unemployed and try to obtain things as cheap or free as possible.
Other ways we conserve water:
When running the water for a shower and waiting for it to get hot we collect the water in a bucket to use for watering the animals, plants, or flushing the toilet.
We do not flush the toilet unless it is necessary. We collect the paper in the waste basket except that containing excrement. You know the old saying, “If it is yellow, let it mellow. If it is brown, flush it down.”
I also have a bucket in the garage that I use for urine. I use that for the compost pile as it helps speed up the composting process.
When hand washing we have wash water in one sink and rinse water in the other instead of rinsing with running water.
We re-wear gently worn cloths several times before washing.
We as many do have a low flow shower head but we also take shorter showers.
We never water outside unless it is for the garden or feed for livestock. I detest having to water so it has to be a need before I will consider it.
I am sure there are other ways that we conserve however they have become such a way of life for us that at this moment we can not think of other ways.
Videos:
Lake Lavon
Lake Travis (Austin, Texas Area)
AgriLife Today
Please share the ways you conserve water in your own life. I am eager to see how others conserve and maybe find new ways to do so myself.
It seems you do far more than we do to conserve water. All we do while showering is sang a song. When the song is over the shower is over.
ReplyDeleteEven with 3110 gallons of harvested rain water we still have to use the well during the summer months to water the animals and gardens. I would love to have about 50,000 on hand. That way we could treat our own water and use it for consumption and just have the well replenish when needed.
The solar bathroom will make a small impact but not as much as I would hope for during the winter months.
Other than that, we rely solely on the well to meet our demands.
As far as the bottled water goes. Every milk jug used is washed and refilled will well water and stored. We have about 50 gallons on hand.
We are also guilty of buying bottled water for our storage just in case. At the moment we have about 20 cases of purchased bottled water, but it's the cheap brand.
MDR - You made me laugh with the song. I can here you not inside your solar shower singing.
ReplyDeleteWhen I believe in something I do my best to live accordingly. We are not perfect my any means but we sure try to do what we can.
Genevieve - Have you thought of capturing your grey water from your shower and basins to water your vegetables? And, like you, I used urine to "prepare" a strawbale vegetable patch last year - worked a treat. Tomatoes, especially, love urine :)
ReplyDeleteOMG, I am so sorry it took so long to reply.
DeleteI capture water from the shower as it is getting hot as the water heater is on the other side of the house but then just end up using it for the toilet later. We only flush when needed. I'll have to try urine on tomatoes. Hey, I am game to try just about anything. - G