Easy way to save on water use
Jun. 7th, 2007 09:11 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
helwenOkay, this is probably way too obvious but....
When my father was a boy, one of his cold weather duties was to get up early and start/stoke up the fire in the stove and the wood furnace. I remember this in part because one of the first things he'd do is go over to the corner of his room, break the ice on the water in the wash basin so he could wash his face and hands.
Nowadays most folks in the U.S. have running water in their homes, with stoppers in the bathroom sinks. In public restrooms there aren't any stoppers, although many now have the electric eye or other methods of helping to conserve water. But I suspect that years of no stoppers in public restrooms and years of easy running water have led to a seemingly small waste of water -- letting the water run while you wash your hands.
It isn't that much water, is it? Hm. Try this -- stopper your sink, then let the water run while you wet, soap, scrub, and rinse your hands. No hurrying it along, just go at whatever's the usual pace for you. Might be surprised at how much is used. Now add up the number of times per day you wash your hands. Multiply by 365. Now imagine all your friends and neighbors washing their hands in this same way.
When one considers the waste just from washing hands in running water, nevermind all the larger ways water is used, it's no wonder that many large cities are having problems with low water tables and needing to get more water from further and further away.
Myself, I don't always remember to stopper the sink, but I'm trying. And especially if I've been working in the garden or painting, something that really gets a lot of muck on the hands -- then the sink gets filled enough to get my hands wet, and I soap and scrub away. Gardening dirt has a way of getting under the nails and stuck around the cuticles and such. Then drain and a quick rinse under running water, since at that point all the work's been done.
And for those who want to save the grey water... put a bowl in the sink, fill with your wash water, wash, then rinse into the bowl as well, then pour it off into the bucket that's waiting to be used to flush a toilet or to water non-edible plants.
When my father was a boy, one of his cold weather duties was to get up early and start/stoke up the fire in the stove and the wood furnace. I remember this in part because one of the first things he'd do is go over to the corner of his room, break the ice on the water in the wash basin so he could wash his face and hands.
Nowadays most folks in the U.S. have running water in their homes, with stoppers in the bathroom sinks. In public restrooms there aren't any stoppers, although many now have the electric eye or other methods of helping to conserve water. But I suspect that years of no stoppers in public restrooms and years of easy running water have led to a seemingly small waste of water -- letting the water run while you wash your hands.
It isn't that much water, is it? Hm. Try this -- stopper your sink, then let the water run while you wet, soap, scrub, and rinse your hands. No hurrying it along, just go at whatever's the usual pace for you. Might be surprised at how much is used. Now add up the number of times per day you wash your hands. Multiply by 365. Now imagine all your friends and neighbors washing their hands in this same way.
When one considers the waste just from washing hands in running water, nevermind all the larger ways water is used, it's no wonder that many large cities are having problems with low water tables and needing to get more water from further and further away.
Myself, I don't always remember to stopper the sink, but I'm trying. And especially if I've been working in the garden or painting, something that really gets a lot of muck on the hands -- then the sink gets filled enough to get my hands wet, and I soap and scrub away. Gardening dirt has a way of getting under the nails and stuck around the cuticles and such. Then drain and a quick rinse under running water, since at that point all the work's been done.
And for those who want to save the grey water... put a bowl in the sink, fill with your wash water, wash, then rinse into the bowl as well, then pour it off into the bucket that's waiting to be used to flush a toilet or to water non-edible plants.
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I hear ya
Date: 2007-06-07 01:39 pm (UTC)BTW, any books you can recommend for apartment-dwellers?
no subject
Date: 2007-06-07 05:55 pm (UTC)