Either way, those early Mormon pioneers took a dry piece of desert land and transform it into a fruitful, lush, green oasis. Today over 2 million people live here and it is a beautiful, green, mountainous landscape.
We all have to start being more conservative if we expect to sustain our American lifestyle on such a finite water resource. It is possible for all of us and our children to have luxuries and amenities. We just have to be smart with how we use our resources.
Use low-flow shower heads:
This is good practice but you can even take it a step further. Hop in the shower, get wet, rinse off, then turn off water. At this point, take your time lathering up and scrubbing yourself clean. When done, turn the water back on and rinse off. You will only use 3-8 gallons for your shower. Without the water washing the soap away before it has had a chance to do its job, you will get cleaner and use less soap in the process.
Drain Water Heat Recovery:
It takes a lot of energy to heat water. It's a shame that all that energy ends up going down the drain.
By using a Heat-recovery drain pipe, one can recover 80-90% of that wasted energy. When water runs down a vertical pipe, rather than falling down the center very quickly, it glides down the inside wall of the pipe. In a heat recovery drain, a section of vertical sewer pipe is replaced with a thermally conductive copper one, a smaller copper culinary water pipe is wrapped around the copper sewer pipe. In this manner, heat from warm waste water (and nothing else) is transferred to the cold water on its way to the water heater. A typical system costs about $500-$800 and the pay off ranges from 2-7 years depending on how much you use it. Heat from shower water is easily reclaimed because there is a continual flow of warm waste water preheating the continual flow of cold water entering the water heater. I want to install one of these someday.
Use an efficient washing machine:
Spend a little extra up front and save a bunch throughout the life of the appliance. Energy Efficient washing machines will save you thousands of gallons of water each year and reduce the energy consumed drying clothes because they spin clothes faster making them drier.
I recently replaced my old washing machine and electric clothes drier with an energy efficient, front loading washing machine and a gas drier. My electric bill went down 120KWH/month by drying 8 loads/week with gas instead of electricity. But to my surprise, my gas bill also went down. Even though my clothes drier now runs on natural gas, the washing machine uses so little water now (2.2 gallons/load) that the water heater doesn't have to heat up nearly as much water to feed the washing machine. The result is a net reduction in electricity and natural gas consumption.
Fix drippy faucets and running toilets:
A drippy faucet can annoy the crap out of you and also wastes 20-100 gallons of water in a day. Leaky hot water wastes energy too because your water heater has to heat up all that water before it gets lost.
Saving Water Around the Yard:
I am not very stringent in this area. I own a large ½ acre lot, that is mostly lawn. Kentucky Bluegrass is not native to arid Utah. It takes a lot of water to keep it green and happy. But that is what the cavalier American dream demands, right? A lush, manicured, green lawn? You have to admit though, it does look pretty good.
I read on the Internet that an acre of grass sequesters 3 tons of CO2 each year. There is a lot of research ongoing regarding this topic. The sequestration numbers vary from several tons of CO2 per acre per year to lawns actually being a net carbon source.
Even with my property having a large irrigation water share, I still hate to see any of it going to waste.
If you have a choice, buy a house that has secondary water for watering the yard. Living in Utah, I am baffled why most homes here only have a culinary water supply. It's expensive to water a large lawn with culinary water, not to mention a terrible waste of a limited resource.
Regardless of the water source, water the lawn in the early morning to limit evaporation. Make sure sprinkler heads are in good repair and automatic sprinkler valves turn on and off correctly. In my last house, I only had culinary water. I had a sprinkler zone dedicated to watering several strawberry plants. One day, the valve got stuck in the on position. I didn't notice it until after returning from a vacation. Needless to say, the strawberries were amazing, but not as amazing as my water bill.
Only water the lawn from a couple times a week to every other day. When you do water, give the lawn a good soaking, then allow the ground to dry out for a few days. This promotes a healthier lawn by sending the roots deep in search of water. Deep roots enable the plant to go longer between watering intervals.
Collect rain water for use later in the year:
Why pay for water when mother nature already gives you the water for free? Acquire a large cistern that can collect snow melt and rain water from the roof. During the summer months when it is dry, this water can be conservatively issued to the plants in the yard.
Xeriscape yard:
Only plant native plants in the yard that thrive solely off of the natural water cycle. No irrigation is required.
Check out your local water conservation district. They have examples and ideas of yard landscapes that will work in your local geography.
Drink Water:
Anyone else thirsty? Don't buy a Coke! Drink water!! Fill up a bottle from home and drink up. It's free!
Milk is for Graham Crackers. Juice is for special occasions. Water is great anytime.
I never thought about warm water going down drain. here, in CA. many people have roof mounted water heater. most of them are for swimming pool rather than heating water for shower , etc. I was expected to see HAM radio antenna or tower , along side of solar panels, but did not see them yet. 73 AE6ZW
ReplyDeleteHave you looked into a grey water system at all?? Grey water is just recirculating water you have used once. For instance, drain water from your dishwasher, washing machine, or shower is then filtered and used to water your lawn or fill your toilets. Toilets use even more water any single thing in your home, and do you care if your toilet water is pristine?? If yes, then use it to water your bluegrass!! In theory it should cut your water usage in half, because you are using the same gallon twice. Most systems are pretty cheap, but must be installed by a licensed plumber.
ReplyDeleteI have considered grey water. However, my culinary water bill and sewer bill are fixed (up to a point). I already use so little water, I pay the minimum amount even though I actually use much less. Any additional water/sewer conservation will not yield any money savings. Plus there is the added electrical costs of pumping water from a tank back for use in the toilets. In the event of a power outage, would the toilets quit working? I believe most systems also use hydrogen peroxide to slightly treat the water.
ReplyDeleteWe live in Riverton, where the ground is heavy clay. Our grass is on a thin layer of soil on top of that clay. We followed the typical advice to water every other day for a long time to promote root growth. Our lawn always looked terrible.
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that the roots weren't penetrating the clay, and neither was the water. We switched to watering briefly, twice every other day, and the lawn is doing very well. Same amount of water used, but better-looking grass.
Collecting rain water is actually illegal: http://www.naturalnews.com/029286_rainwater_collection_water.html
ReplyDeleteAmazing...
Working well in water system can be a part of water conservation also.
ReplyDeletemetal water tank
Having water reserve also helps to conserve water. And aside from that, you must regularly check your pipelines. You may not be aware of leaks in there, and it’s not good, especially with having to pay for it in the monthly bill.
ReplyDeleteLorenza @CentralBasin.org