“Waste not, Want not” Water Conservation

 I was raised in a family who lived by the old adage “waste not, want

not”, but now with all of the extreme drought conditions occurring, those values need to be bumped up to the next level.

I live in North Carolina where what we are experiencing is officially known as exceptional drought conditions. We have seen news stories about a small town in Tennessee that only has water for 3 hours a day.  It may be a small town, but it should be a wake up

call for the rest of us to conserve water before our water supply runs

out.  I’m not the only one who feels that this is a situation that requires action.

“The need to reduce water waste and inefficiency is greater now than ever before,” said Benjamin Grumbles, assistant administrator for water at the Environmental Protection Agency. “Water efficiency is the wave of the future.”

  

Here is an article from MSNBC:

An epic drought in Georgia threatens the water supply for millions. Florida doesn’t have nearly enough water for its expected population boom. The Great Lakes are shrinking. Upstate New York’s reservoirs have dropped to record lows. And in the West, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is melting faster each year.

Across America, the picture is critically clear — the nation’s freshwater supplies can no longer quench its thirst.

The government projects that at least 36 states will face water shortages within five years because of a combination of rising temperatures, drought, population growth, urban sprawl, waste and excess.

“Is it a crisis? If we don’t do some decent water planning, it could be,” said Jack Hoffbuhr, executive director of the Denver-based American Water Works Association.Water managers will need to take bold steps to keep taps flowing, including conservation, recycling, desalination and stricter controls on development.“We’ve hit a remarkable moment,” said Barry Nelson, a senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council. “The last century was the century of water engineering. The next century is going to have to be the century of water efficiency.”The price tag for ensuring a reliable water supply could be staggering. Experts estimate that just upgrading pipes to handle new supplies could cost the nation $300 billion over 30 years.“Unfortunately, there’s just not going to be any more cheap water,” said Randy Brown, Pompano Beach’s utilities director.Global issue
It’s not just America’s problem — it’s global.Australia is in the midst of a 30-year dry spell, and population growth in urban centers of sub-Saharan Africa is straining resources. Asia has 60 percent of the world’s population but only about 30 percent of its fresh water.The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of scientists, said this year that by 2050 up to 2 billion people worldwide could be facing major water shortages.

The U.S. used more than 148 trillion gallons of water in 2000, the latest figures available from the U.S. Geological Survey. That includes residential, commercial, agriculture, manufacturing and every other use — almost 500,000 gallons per person.

Coastal states like Florida and California face a water crisis not only from increased demand, but also from rising temperatures that are causing glaciers to melt and sea levels to rise. Higher temperatures mean more water lost to evaporation. And rising seas could push saltwater into underground sources of freshwater.

Florida represents perhaps the nation’s greatest water irony. A hundred years ago, the state’s biggest problem was it had too much water. But decades of dikes, dams and water diversions have turned swamps into cities.

Wasted water
Little land is left to store water during wet seasons, and so much of the landscape has been paved over that water can no longer penetrate the ground in some places to recharge aquifers. As a result, the state is forced to flush millions of gallons of excess into the ocean to prevent flooding.

So what can we do?

Conserve, conserve, conserve.  Do our best to use as little water as possible.  In my home, I use a plastic dishpan in my sink to catch the water we use to rinse our dishes before putting them in the dishwasher.  Yes, you read that right…dishwasher.  The average dishwasher uses between 9-12 gallons of water per cycle to wash dishes and newer dishwasher between 5-12 gallons.  Hand washing the same amount of dishes uses approx. 20 gallons of water!  Say good-bye to dishpan hands!

The biggest water waste for dishwashers is the pre-rinsing, which dishwasher companies claim you no longer need to do & that it is just a mental thing with people.  I guess that makes me mental…LOL!

Anyway which brings me back to the plastic dishpan to catch the pre-rinse water.  I simply take it outside to water my garden then I’m not wasting any dishwater.  I know people who have bought one of those water rain barrels to catch the water from their drain spouts.  Amazingly these devices fill up during a rainstorm while pans that were placed outside had less than a quarter inch inside them!  I may have to look into getting one of these things.  Maybe in the spring…for now my budget is suffering from the Christmas woes and that won’t be an option anytime soon. ;(

Believe it or not, the average water usage per person per day is 200 gallons.

Here’s how…

	Showering wet down, soap up, rinse off = 4 gallons
	Brushing teeth wet brush, rinse briefly, = ½ gallon
	Shaving, fill sink basin = 1 gallon
	Washing hands fill sink basin = 1 gallon
	Tub bath minimal water level = 10 to 12 gallons
	Flushing toilet using a smaller tank = 4 to 6 gallons
	dishwashing washing and rinsing in the sink = 5 gallons
	automatic dishwasher short cycle = 7 gallons
	washing machine short cycle with minimal water level = 27 gallons
	Outdoor watering average hose = 10 gallons per minute
	leaks - even a small drip can add up to 25 gallons per day

The above gallon usage is calculated minimally. You can count on using quite a bit more if you leave the water running while brushing your teeth, shaving, washing the dishes, using old toilets that require more water, running the dishwasher and washing machines on longer cycles and filling the bath tub to the top.  Remember, water is not cheap or limitless.  Please use this natural resource wisely.  Think of ways you can help conserve water and share them with us in the comment section.

Conserving gasoline is another way we can help the sustainability of our planet.  My next article will be “What’s All the Hoopla About Hybrids”  it will be posted by Monday next week.  Have a safe fun filled weekend!

S

  

~ by digitalpoetry on December 13, 2007.