Conserving Water

For the past several months I have become conscious of the need to conserve, especially water. I started taking shorter showers, washing dishes without having the water constantly running to rinse them (I don’t have an automatic dishwasher), and re-using the water from boiling food for my potted plants or vegetable broth. I also do not make it a habit to water my lawn since I have so little of it and it rains enough where I live, nor do I wash my car very often.

I have also cut down on my use of plastic shopping bags as well as plastic containers. Ironically, at the height of my conservation efforts, I came home one day to find a note on my front door that the water was turned off and would be fixed as soon as possible. I am on a shared well, so it wasn’t due to nonpayment of a bill, but nonetheless it was my only source for water. Even though I live right across the street from a large body of water, it is not freshwater and thus not potable.

Seven and 1/2 weeks later my water source was restored. What did I do during those seven plus weeks? Well, I didn’t move out of my house, and I had to ask for 5 gallon and 1 gallon plastic water jugs from friends and even one of my employers so we could fill up from my neighbor’s hose and cart water into our house everyday for 50 days! It was humbling to discover how much my only son and I consumed in one day. We discovered -

* it takes at least 4 gallons of water to flush a toilet

* at least 2 gallons of water to wash and rinse dishes

* 2 gallons of water to shampoo and rinse one person’s hair

* 1 gallon to mop about 1200 sf of floors

* and people don’t need to shower every day.

Through this experience we both realized that we take clean running water for granted, we must consciously conserve it more and always keep bottled water on hand. We both used about 10 gallons a water a day not including showers and washing clothes.

What other ways can people conserve water or reuse it?