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Living a Better Life
Conserving Water
Imagine sitting
down to watch the evening news with your family and hearing this warning from
your city officials… "We may run out of water in 3 months."
Your first thought might be, "No way, that can’t happen,
everything will probably be fine." Or,
you might think "This report must be an exaggeration, surely the drought
can’t be that bad." And while there is still some hope that everything will be
okay, at the time of this writing, much of the Southeastern United States is
experiencing the worst drought in over 100 years and our beautiful city of
Atlanta (with over 4 million people in the metro area) is right in the middle of
it. More...
While much of our area has been on mandatory outdoor water restrictions for most of the summer and we now have a total outdoor watering ban, there is always more we can do. Yes, we need more rain, and lots of it, but I think most people agree we also need to get better at conserving water. This includes every source of water usage, not just households. And shouldn’t we be trying to conserve water on a regular basis anyways? Not only does it save money for our household budgets (especially for those of us that are on costly city water and not wells or springs—which by the way, are also drying up), but also, it has now become quite clear that if we don’t start conserving very seriously there is the real possibility that we could run out of water and have none to use at all. I have had to do without a lot of things in my life at one point or another, but thankfully water has never been one of them—at least not for an extended amount of time beyond preparing for hurricanes, ice storms, or occasional plumbing repairs. Quite frankly, I think most of us would not even know what to do without this much needed resource. Last week I was talking to a lady (at the cemetery office, of all places) about the water shortage and she said she had turned the water off while brushing her teeth that morning and I replied, "I did too!" She said, "I had never even heard that before have you?" Well, of course, I had to admit, "Yes, I have," but I quickly added "I have heard it and read it now and then, and (what’s worse!), I know it. But the thing is, sometimes I turn the water off and do really well for awhile, then at some point I just seem to forget and start leaving it on again." What a waste of such a precious resource, why do we do that?! Turning the water off while you brush your teeth may not sound like much water, but I’m sure each family could save several gallons a day just by doing this one simple thing. And add that to all the other ways of conserving water use and then multiply by how many billions of people? Not to mention commercial companies, industries, cities, states, etc… Whew, we’re talking a LOT of water that could be saved. EVERY DAY!!! Whether you are living in our drought suffering Southeast or somewhere else, I hope we can all agree that conserving water is always a good thing. So, for the sole purpose of discussing general household water conservation (not saving Atlanta from running out of water in the next 90 days—which involves MUCH more than household usage), let’s start talking about some ideas that we can put into action. Conserving Water for Drinking and Cooking Here’s the thing I keep thinking about. If we were to run out of drinking water, what would we do? Food can be cooked without water, or with less water. But should those of us in the Southeastern states stop drinking water? Yikes. Water is so good for you that this could cause health problems, so I think this is probably one of the most important uses for water. And for months now, whenever our children leave a glass of water behind that they didn’t finish, I use it to water our houseplants. That’s the idea here, not only to use less water, but also to not waste it. Conserving Water for Dishwashing Over the years I’ve heard that washing dishes by hand actually uses more water than dishwashers, and that the reverse is a common misunderstanding. Whichever method you use, there are still ways to cut back the water usage by washing full loads all at once and of course, using paper plates or even napkins whenever possible, like for children’s snacks. Conserving Water for Laundry Whew, this one is tough for large families. They say always wash full loads and we certainly do, sometimes I can barely get the door closed on the washer it’s so full. Having water efficient appliances will help a lot too. I guess we can start wearing our clothes longer without washing them as often. I’ll have to keep thinking about this one. Conserving Water for Housecleaning Okay, really now, I’ve been wanting a break from housecleaning for quite a while anyways. This will not be a problem! Seriously though, disposable cleaning wipes will help, as well as keeping the floors swept and wiped up daily so that mopping will not be necessary. Showers and tubs can also be washed WHILE you’re taking a shower so there won’t be a need for extra water. Conserving Water for Showers/Baths/Toilets Whew, cutting back on our showers is easy, it’s getting the kids to cut back that’s difficult. I don’t know what happens, they go in there and you tell them to make it quick, and twenty minutes later you realize they’re still in the shower! Maybe I could put a laminated sign in the tub that says "5 Minutes Only, then You’d Better GET OUT! - Love, Mom." I’ll let you know if that works! Toilets are another issue to consider, not only making sure that they are up to date and water efficient, but also when necessary they can be flushed less often. Conserving Water for Washing Pets We had a dog once who would pee on the floor every time someone came to the house, and since she had long hair it was a little bit of a pain cleaning her up. Well, we quickly learned that they make disposable pet wipes (similar to baby wipes) that can provide a water free bath, and they work great! How cool is that? There are also other waterless bath products on the market for pets so you might want to check those out, especially if you like to bathe your pet often. Conserving Water for Washing Cars Since the drought we have stopped washing our cars completely, I think my husband and I have done each of our cars only once throughout the entire summer. However often you wash your car, try cutting that in half, or even more if you can. That would be a good start. Do they make disposable cleaning wipes for cars? ;o) Conserving Water for Flowers/Gardens At this point in the drought we have lost about 1/3 of the new plants and flowers we planted in the spring for Mother’s Day, but a lot of that is also because of the 100-degree summer that was just too much for them to survive, without regular watering. Although I am sad that they are gone I am trying to be thankful for the ones that survived, including the new camellia, which was my mom’s favorite. One great thing you can do to help water the plants during the summer is to collect the water from your air conditioner’s condensation line, we did that for quite a while until we finally gave up trying to save all the new plants. You could also reuse bath water and maybe even wash your pets near the garden so their bath water can do double duty! We did that too, before the outdoor watering restrictions changed to a total ban last month. Next spring I hope to find some drought resistant flowers that may survive better. And with my luck, it will be our rainiest summer in history! ;o) Conserving Water for Lawns I have a funny story about lawn watering. When my husband and I bought our first house shortly after we were married in 1985 we spent a full month watering our new lawn as often as was recommended (by whoever, I have no idea!), until our water bill came. We were so shocked to have to pay that huge bill, over $200.00, that we have never watered our lawn on a regular basis again. And most of the time, we simply do not water our lawn at all. I may not be a lawn expert but I’d say the money we’ve saved over the last twenty something years is well worth never having had one that was picture perfect. And just think of all the water we’ve saved in just this one area, I’d say that surely makes up for running the water while we brush our teeth! (And we will still try to do better on that!!!) Although this column is not intended to be a comprehensive list for saving water, I hope it will at least help you think a little more about saving water each time you turn those faucets on. If you’d like more information on water conservation here are two great resources for you to check out… United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources
Conservation Service - Conserving Water FEMA - Conserving Water
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Copyright © 2007 by Michelle Jones, author of Dealing with Debt, Frugal Family Recipes and Basic Budget Planning... for Those Who Hate to Budget. All rights reserved. Want more money-saving tips? Get a FREE Subscription to our monthly newsletter!
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