Where we live, water is very dear. We do not utilize town/city water supply. But, every 30 days, we have our 13,000 liters of water cartered to us. With nine members of my family, reinforcing our water-saving practices is important. ● Fix all leaking taps/faucets and replace older faucets with ceramic seal taps. We do not want dripping taps/faucets wasting 1166.6 liters within 30 days. That's a lot of waste. ● Install flow-control valves. It restricts water from 10 liters per minute to between 5 and 8 liters per minute. ● Don't use running water to defrost frozen food, drinks and in getting a popsicle out. ● Keep a container to catch water while you wait for tha warmer water to come through. Then use this water to water plants. ● 5 minute shower is quite a luxury. So, we take 2-3 minute showers. ● Install a controlled-flow shower head. Make sure it's a highly efficient shower head. ●Brush your teeth with the tap turned off. ● A dual-flush cistern for flushing the toilet will is a good water-saving ptactice. Putting good practices in place saves money and energy.
I was about to start a thread about rain barrels, when I saw this thread. Does anyone here use one or more rain barrels? It just came to my attention that some areas limit residents ability to use them. A Facebook friend's HOA (Home Owner Association) restricts the use of rain barrels in their neighborhood. I don't think they're restricted where I am, but that wouldn't stop me, in any case. I wondered if there's a particular kind of barrel that is better than another, what the 'caught' rain is used for, whether just outdoor things, such as watering plants, or for actual drinking, if there's some sort of filtering system used, to keep bugs and other undesirable things out of the water, and if there's an easy way to drain or access the water, such as a spigot at the bottom of some barrels, that a hose or other system could be attached to, so the user wouldn't have to scoop or pour the water out.
In new suburbs, it's council regulations that homeowners should attach water tanks or catchments at the end of the water pipes collecting rain from the roof gutters.
In homes with older commodes, the old "brick in the tank" trick might really work. The idea is that since water is displaced by the brick, you don't use as much for each flush. It still needs to be able to do the job though, as two flushes would end up wasting water instead of saving it. Newer models have smaller tanks, making them more efficient and this trick either unnecessary or impossible, as the brick wouldn't even fit in some cases.
I rent my home and so I am not able to install low water usage things like shower heads and things, but I do make recommendations and requests to the property manager. Some of the things we do to conserve water are, taking shorter showers and not always shampooing and conditions our hair. It takes twice as much water to do both. We also defrost food on the kitchen counter or in the fridge so not to use a water bath. When cleaning, I also use buckets of water to rice out the tub and sinks so that I do not have to leave the water running.
Your family is very water-usage disciplined and you should be proud! I know family's that could blast through what you guys use in a week in a day!
@EditorsRHumansToo! I particularly like item #4 on your list, catching the cold water while waiting for it to warm up for a bath or shower. I'm already thinking of ways to use it. Great thread!
I think if I took a 2-3 minute shower, or even a 5 minute shower, I'm not sure if I would be clean enough? Or maybe I just don't move fast enough in the shower?
The period starting from June to December is supposed to be rainy but there's still not enough water in the locality due to this so-called El Niño phenomenon. What we do at home is capture and save rainwater in a large barrel and we use it for flushing the toilet (which consumes a lot water per flush), washing clothes and mopping floors. Besides this practice, we do several of the things you mentioned.
This thread reminds me of my youth when summers would be dry with no water in the tap for a month. It is good if there is an artesian well nearby so we could borrow a cart and fetch water in plastic containers. It is a mandatory conservation of water for us so bathing is only allowed before dinner since kids would have sweat with the summer heat. Plants were watered with used water like that for bathing or laundry. We didn't care if the plants would die with that soapy water. You know kids.
I also live in rented accommodation as another poster said and that means I'm not allowed to install things to use to make the house more efficient in terms of water usage. However, we do the following to try to conserve water and not spend more than we have to; We take short showers (with the exception of my disabled mother who needs a little more time). We don't leave water running while we're brushing our teeth. We don't flush the toilet unless it's actually been used (and this one comes from one certain member of the household wastefully flushing it every time they were done in the bathroom whether they'd used the toilet or simply been in there to wash their hands or to put a new towel in - literally!) We collect rainwater outside to use to water the plants (instead of water from the tap) or we catch the cold water to use if we're waiting for hot. We only boil enough water for the drinks we want to make. If it was possible to install things to help, I'd certainly want to do that. It's a shame the landlord isn't willing to let me do it.
I also try to save water in my own little way by using the water that was used for rinsing the clothes to water the plants. Of course, the water that I use is the one that is clear of soap residue and not the type where the water is full of bubbles.
Here in Hawaii it's been quite a while for saving water. Once in the 80's I believe we had to have water conservation where you can only water your yard every other day. We do all the things you do plus we have a smaller toilet tank that holds the water. We have ourLog In that we pay our bills to that's under the City and County of Honolulu. The water is very clean and you can drink it from the tap if you like. We luckily live in an apt. that the landlord includes water in the rent.
Whilst fresh, clean water is taken for granted here in the UK, I still like to save wherever possible. I take as long as I need to int he shower but I always take a "Navy" shower - where you get wet, turn the shower off, lather up then turn the shower back on to rinse off.
LOL Gosh! This is also a big problem of mine. As fast as I try to be whenever I'm in the shower, I just can't seem to lessen my bath time. I make sure though that whenever I'm not really using the water like when I'm applying soap or shampoo, I make it a point to turn off the shower first. Then I would turn it on again once I'm ready to rinse. I think the thing that keeps me long inside the bathroom are my regimens, but water saving wise I still see to it that I'm not wasting water while doing my bath.
I timed my shower once and it took exactly 3 minutes. Not hard to do. I drench myself from head to toe with water, soap up with a body wash that I also use to shampoo my hair, shave my legs if they need it, clean my face and other body parts with a washcloth, and rinse off. I keep a cold bottle of water in the tub, and after I turn off the water, I use that to splash cold water on my face. I do brush my teeth with the tap water turned off. For one month I tried the routine of "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down". But, after that month I went back to an every time flush.
In relation to flushing, we have been having this practice of using a plastic dipper for flushing the toilet bowl every after urinating instead of pushing down the flush from the bowl. We found that it saves on water because the amount of water that is being flushed from the toilet bowl reservoir is so much more than a dipper full of water poured onto the bowl to flush urine.
@Log In, I commend you for your contribution to water conservation. I think what most people don't realise is that our water reserves are running low, with countries like yours and mine already feeling the pinch. I reckon that's why some people just can't wrap their heads around water conservation practices, with some of them even wasting water on a daily basis because they take it for granted. We are often subjected to water rations where I live, so we also observe many water saving methods, some of which are: Military showersCutting back on doing the laundry until we have quite a loadTurning the tap off while brushing our teethBoiling just enough water for our teaUsing a bowl placed in the sink to wash and rinse our dirty dishes (no dishwasher)Not flushing the loo unless absolutely necessary. of course, here the problem is the fact human urine does pong to high hell, so you need to strike a balanceRecycling some of our dirty water to flush the looI also do the water bottle thing that tispiegel does LOL
Hmmm, that is interesting. I researched that on the internet and found this -- is this what you are referring to? "Tabo (hygiene)" I also have very little watering to do in my yards. I have desert landscape in both the front and back yards. Rock and granite instead of grass. Additionally, I wait until I have a full load of laundry before doing the wash on the shortest cycles.
LOL! I really couldn't find the exact English word for it so I just used the word "dipper" instead, but yeah I was actually talking about "Tabo." I didn't know it only existed in our area and can't be found anywhere else. This could be the reason why some of the people coming here for vacation would tend to take one with them when they leave. I find it to be such a great aide in saving water here because we even use it in taking our baths at times instead of the shower head. We fill a whole pail with water and use the "Tabo" to fetch the water from the pail. I have to say like what you are doing with your yard because grass can become very dry and eventually die during extreme heat in summer. It would really need a whole lot of watering for the grass to stay green.
