Water Wise

What could be more summery than a quick dip in the pool and a giant glass of iced tea? A brisk scrub-a-dub-tub to get the popsicle goo off your legs? All of these things are so refreshing, and so dependent on our unbelievably reliable stream of fresh, clean water. We’re lucky in the US; more than a billion people worldwide don’t have access to fresh, clean drinking water. (To help out people worldwide, check out Lifestraw and donate to provide a family with an incredibly simple device that can help them filter their children’s water). How can we ensure that our kids remain so fortunate? Conservation, of course. Those of you in Western states have long been familiar with the many tricks and tips necessary to keep water use down, but for those of us who live, well, on a marsh in the East aka the nation’s capitol or in another water-rich region, they may not be second nature.

I’ve been slooooowly coming to consciousness on this issue. Here are the water saving measures I’ve tried:

1. Navy showers (water on only when you’re actually getting wet or rinsing)
2. Only a couple inches in the kid tubs, only a couple times a week (it’s just DIRT and JAM, folks, and germs can only make your kids’ immune systems stronger)
3. Saving soapy water from bathing for greywater (I use it to water my plants and flush my toilets)
4. Watering plants from old sippy cups and melted ice
5. Filtering water instead of buying bottled (may not save water but sure saves money and energy – check the EPA’s database to read your local annual drinking water supply report online)
6. Taking my kid to the pool instead of letting him play with the hose (or sit in the kitchen sink with the water running for half an hour, marveling at the splash of water and play of light, filling and refilling different sized containers. Not that we love doing that AT ALL)
7. Severely limiting water use when pre-scrubbing my dishes before putting them in the dishwasher (if you don’t use eco-friendly soap in a hard water area, try to see if you can get away with NO pre-washing – I can’t! but I can do the old school method of filling up just one tiny tub and using it for a whole sink-full of dishes).
8. If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down (with greywater)
9. Only run dishwasher/laundry when absolutely full
10. Only wash clothes after two or more wearings unless I have been afflicted with hand-eye coordination problems over a plate of marinara sauce
11. Shut the water off while brushing teeth, soaping up hands, etc.
12. Put bricks/bottles in the back of my toilet so it uses less water to refill
13. Installed low-flow devices in our shower heads/faucets
14. Bought high-efficiency washer when our old one kicked it last month
15. Bought high-efficiency dishwasher when our old one kicked it a few years back

Stuff I would really like to do:

1. Install a rain garden like this one featured in last week’s Washington Post – this couple has spent the last 20 years tinkering with their garden to feature drought-resistant/native plants and to capture every last drop of rainwater to prevent it from washing pollutants into the local watershed
2. Make my own rain barrels to put under my downspouts to catch every last drop (I want to make my own but fear incompetence might lead to mosquito breeding frenzy)
3. Install a green roof
4. Talk to a landscaper about drought-resistant, native plants that are also extremely shade-and-container tolerant so I can stop buying perennials that need continual watering and care (oh wait, was I talking about water or laziness?!)

Hold on! you may be thinking. If I live in a water-rich region, how come I have to conserve? Look at it this way — if you waste water, it has to be cleaned again in order to be usable — whether for drinking or your hose or your shower. So, barring careful water consumption, you’ll be recklessly consuming energy (aka nonrenewables) and diverting resources sheerly because, like me, you used to be wasteful and awfully lazy. Plus? Let’s try to ensure that there’s enough drinking water for the billion people on earth who need it. And some left over for that homemade popsicle.

Original 5 Minutes for Going Green post.
Jess Trevelyan aka MamaBird blogs about her efforts to green her life over at SurelyYouNest.