Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Water shortage: what are YOU doing?
The Left Coast is burning. The South is in the middle of a major draught w/o any real plan to save itself. The issue of conserving and supplying water is big and only getting bigger. So, as an informal pole, what are you, your family, your job doing to help the cause of not wasting water?
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We haven't watered anything in the yard! My plants are dead. Haven't washed the cars. That is about it. I know we could do more.
We don't water the yard either. I take shorter showers and turn the faucet off when I'm washing my face or brushing my teeth. We wash dishes by hand.. So instead of letting the water run the whole time I only turn it on to rinse everything off quickly all at once. I stopped doing small loads of laundry and wait until I have a full load. I also got my dad to fix two leaky faucets. I don't think I was a big water waster to begin with. But it's amazing to see how much you can conserve when you're conscious of it!
This is the first time I have ever experienced restrictions on the water I pay for, since I am from Michigan. I don't know Georgia's history on droughts; however, I am rarely home, and I only use my water for bathing and cooking. I live in ampartment, so I don't desire water for landscaping. I don't have a car either, so I don't have to worry about washing one, resutling in large amounts of water usage.
My family has always conserved water in my house. We are not allowed to take a shower for more than 10 minutes and water cannot run while brushing our teeth. Dishes have always been washed by hand and car washing has been put to a stop.
I definitely think the efforts of everyone conserving is making a difference. People are aware and are acting. We get about 5 gallons a day from condensation on our A/C when it is on. It's a little too cold now. When we take a shower we put the plug in and then capture the water from the bath into buckets to flush the toilets.
I hope that our State government resolves this issue quickly with Florida and Alabama.
I know my family hasnt done a lot to change the way we use water but we werent huge water consumers to begin with. We have stopped watering the yard though. And I have also stopped washing my car. (I would like to say this is because I want to conserve water.. But it is mostly because I am lazy and it is colder outside) I have always taken quick showers and only did laundry if I had enough for a full load. It has always seemed meaningless to me to do a load of laundry if you are only going to wash 2 things. But seeing all of these things on the news about the water shortage has really started to freak me out. What happens if there is no more water?
My neighborhood is on a privately owned well system and we have been on water restriction for as long as I can remember. We can't use any outside water at all. Inside, we make sure to run the dishwasher just once a day, not too bad for a family of six. We combine our laundry so that we run a full load each time, and we try to rewear clothes instead of washing something every time it gets worn.
Rewearing something is a good idea! I never thought of that. I have been only washing diapers when I have a full load, only washing clothes when I have a full load, and only washing dishes when I have a full load. My dad has always said you use more water when you hand wash dishes than with a dishwasher so I will stick to that! Plus, there is no way I would have time to wash dishes by hand. My husband used to take miraculously long showers and I have been ON HIS BUTT to quickly get out. I, myself, have also been taking shorter showers than before. I turn off the water when I brush my teeth and I used to, when soaking pots and pans, run the kitchen water and walk away for a second while it filled up. Now I make sure I stand right there while it's running so I can quickly turn it off once it's full. I can't really think of anything else we have done differently...
Oh! I am way against disposeable stuff, as you can guess since we're using cloth diapers! But we have been using disposeable cups, plates, forks, and spoons.
I don't think my family has done anything. We normally don't take that long of showers, and really only use water for dishes and laundry.
My parents are from Nigeria and over there they don't play about any type of conservation. I visited this past summer and have learned life long lessons (expecially about how much water we unnecessarily use here in the United States). My family and I have arleady been 'conservative' if you will. Besides not washing our cars every weekend (uhh!!!),I don't think we have changed any habits due to the drought.
I have a household of eight and we all take shorter showers, where we use to take tub bathes. I also make sure that my kids turn off the water while brushing their teeth.
Food for thought....My family and I have switched to reusable cups and bottles. Please realize that billions of bottles and cans filled with water, and water containing products line the shelves of every store in the world. Our world only has a certain amount of water that will never change. Whether or not that water will be in our kitchen, or in someones warehouse is a major concern. Please remove the lid from all drinks before throwing them away...plastic bottles will NEVER decompose, leaving our precious water supply trapped forever. (better yet....recycle)
The bottled water frenzy is having a huge impact on our water supply. This is quoted from http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/cms/page1544.cfm "Bottling plants extract water in huge amounts from local springs and aquifers, potentially drying up wells and springs or depleting wetlands and draining rivers, with serious impacts on the ecosystems. If these corporations are not draining local water supplies, the water bottlers take it directly from our public tap water systems — more than one-quarter of bottled water sold comes from municipal supplies." please also check out www.waterconserve.org
Wasteful and lavish is what some people would call American, especially those from the parched areas of the world. Just because we have to cut back on yard watering, and we can only wash one of our three cars this week, should make us so grateful to live in a wonderful place where if you are thirsty...you get a drink.
I stopped washing my car every weekend and I take like 5 minute showers instead of 10 minute ones.I also don't use as much water when I was dishes.
Wow, thank you for the post, Cindy!!!
To be honest I have not even done anything. I don't really use much water anyway. I take a shower in the morning and night also brush my teeth and I don't drink that much water even though I should. So I don't really worry about conserving water seeing how I don't really use it.
I live in, Oxford, and we get put on "water restriction" every summer. We get a letter of notice that tells us some ways to preserve water, such as; no watering the yard, no washing cars, etc. My family has done our best to keep our water use as low as possible. We follow what the letter says, and we do a little extra.
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