How do you save water in your household or community?

I about fell over two summers ago when I saw how many gallons we used in August during the drought. We rent and our landlords like a pretty green lawn which we were watering all the time. I was mortified and disgusted and we actually turned our out-of-date, inefficient sprinkler system off! Other ways we save:

* Only run a full washer/dishwasher load

* If it's yellow, let it mellow

* Turn the water off while washing hands (you only need water to initially wet and then again to rinse)

* All water left in glasses is used to water house plants.

* Same with ice...instead of melting in the sink, save it for plants

* We don't wash our cars

* I don't shave my legs when the shower is running. Turn it off for a few minutes, plug the tub, and save a few gallons

* I don't take baths (this may be because my tub is wee little!)

* Spacers in the toilet tanks

As for energy, we don't run our dryer either, we hang our clothes outside. We only run the dishwasher on the "china light" cycle. It saves us about 25 minutes of run time and I always air-dry, never dry with heat. We don't run central-air, we close the curtains/blinds during the hottest part of the summer, and keep them open during the winter. We unplug everything when it is not in use. Cell phone chargers are the worst. They use up to 95% of the energy just by being plugged in as they do when they are charging! Its called running a phantom load. We unplug: laptop, toaster, box fans, lamps that aren't used daily, all media electronics, and battery recharger. Hope this gives some people some new ideas!

Take care!

The biggest FACTUAL argument I can muster for families to save water when business' may not be saving water: People easily outnumber business! People use water every single day. Business' may not use water everyday if they are closed (like on weekends). Many businesses do not over consume water: Most offices have just a bathroom and a water fountain, some may have a sink or small cafeteria (plenty don't). Many businesses do not even have public restrooms! Deferring blame to businesses is a weak argument. If you want to counter with a stronger argument (rebuttal), just google something like - "Earth Water Supply Problems". It may be depressing to read, but you will get some facts (find a good source though) Last I heard reported in the news (TV) was 20 years from now we will have drastically less fresh water for everyday use. Possibly an epidemic where at least 25% of the populated Earth will not have fresh water. I heard this on the news and am just repeating it, if true then it's very freightening. World population increases every day - water supply doesn't. There is only so much water on the earth to go around. Fact: What was the biggest invention in the 1900s to prevent disease and extend lifespan? Not a heart monitor. Not an air conditioner. Not a hospital. Simple: Access to clean water supply. Why? People were able to bathe with fresh water. Cook with clean water. Wash clothes. Something so simple - WAS VITAL TO LIFESPAN!

There are many things you can do to reduce your water consumption.

First, only wash full loads of laundry, not partial.

Second, use a dishwasher as they use water more efficiently than most humans, and only wash your dishes when the dishwasher is full.

Next, set your lawnmower a half-inch taller than you presently use it. With that extra half-inch, your grass will need a lot less water.

Then, set your sprinkler system to water three days a week or less. Also, learn about xeriscaping: xeriscaping is replacing the water guzzling flowers and shrubbery in your yard with native plants that can be just as beautiful but that use 50-75% less water.

Replace your toilets with high efficiency toilets that use less than a gallon to flush waste.

Finally, spend less time in the shower. Shower quickly. Also, install a shower conservation device on your shower, so that you can temporarily shut the water off when you're soaping up or putting shampoo in your hair. Generally, you only need water when you are initially getting wet and when you're ready to rinse off.

EFFICIENT WATER USE

IN THE HOUSE

one can connect the sink straight to the toilet sistern and so use the water twice ,first to have a shave and then to flush the toilet

also if you bend the ball valve you can regulate the level of the sistern

and always have your grey water and black water seperate

so that the sink and shower water goes directly into the garden saving on irregation and at the same time ,making the sewage smaller and easier to deal with ,this also goes and iregates the garden but via a sitern of two compartments and a french drain ,on which you plant trees,

ON THE LAND

economic systems of irregation like drip irregation

and design using a lot of stone walls ,that condense water in the night

and planting leafy plants for the same purpose

building wind breaks ,to counter act the drying effects of the wind and farm towards agro forestal ,using as many trees as posible to limit evaporation .using shade nets before we have tree cover

and use MULCH

by cutting down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall,they will cover the ground and put even more organic matter on top,you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry,and when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most benificial way(for the quality of you soil)to prepare the land for planting

to prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).

mulch is the same principal as compost but it includes the whole garden surface

the top part of the soil where the topsoil is being produced houses a world or microbiotic life.

Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil

the humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the devellopment of worms(their exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together with the mulch produce more topsoil.

the mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surfave if on unprotected land

Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and,

WATERHARVESTING

As far as catching rain is concerned ,we do this all the time ,and have done so already since Babylonian times,and is a part of the more advanced Agriculture,that existed with the Egyptians,Central ,and south American indigenous peoples,and many others ,today we call this water harvesting.

In Permaculture the rule is to harvest water to the point of Zero runoff.

this means that all of the rain that falls on an area is absorbed by the terrain and not a drop leaves it.

by building dams,ponds or swales, with interconecting ditches,

if there are enough of these ;the places ,where before the rain water ran over the ground into the rivers and on to the sea ,(in a matter of hours or days),It now runs into absorbant dams or swales and saturates the ground and eventually reaches subteranean water deposits ,taking many months to do so.

Or it fills up ponds that can be used for Aquaculture.

And so a convex situation that repels water is transformed in a concave ,absorbant one and turning the area in to a sponge.

in Spain and Portugal ,which still display many examples of the conquering Moorish influence,One can find many remnants of Waterharvesting,such as aquaducts and tanks underneath the patios ,which collect the rain water from the roofs ,to be used in dryer times.

to find out more about Water harvesting I recomend:

the designers manual by Bil Mollison,which cost about 40 dollars.

and is the best all round book you can get.(tagiari publishing, tagariadmin@southcom.com.au)

some other writers that are on the internet are

david Holmgren

Larry Santoyo

Kirk Hanson

Masanobu Fukuaka has written ,

One-Straw Revolution

The Road Back to Nature

The Natural Way of Farming

http://www.context.org/iclib/ic14/fukuok...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/masanobu_fu...

Simon Henderson

and Bill Molisson.

a representitive of the concept in USA is

Dan Hemenway at YankeePerm@aol.com

barkingfrogspc@aol.com

http://barkingfrogspc.tripod.com/frames....

http://csf.colorado.edu/perma/ypc_catalo... Source(s) I am a permaculture consultant for the department of Ecology for the regional government of Guerrero in Mexico

http://spaces.msn.com/byderule

You might not like the sound of this one, but if you only flush the toilet every two times someone uses it you can save a huge amount of water. Also if you hand wash dishes turn the faucet down while you are wsahing so that the water is not coming out as fast. Your dishes will get just as clean, but you won't use as much water. also if someone if your family takes more than one shower a day or takes a shower longer than 8 minutes try to convince them to take fewer or shorter showers, it can save a huge amount of water.

Just making ourselves aware of how much water we waste, would be a huge help. Simple things like: shorter shower; not letting the water run while you brush your teeth; only run the dishwasher when it is completely full; not watering the lawn every day. I just want to cry when I see automatic lawn sprinklers going full blast during a rain storm. Actually, I want to cry when I see automatic lawn sprinklers. They seem to be a huge waste of water. Also, is it just soooo important that your car not have a speck of dust on it? Washing cars is another waste of water. Enough said.

what motivated me to be aware of all the water we waste all the time was repeating to myself that billions of people die every day (esp. in Africa) because of lack of drinkable water. it's outrageous this happens in our times and we do nothing about it, we (as the dominant "wise" culture) prefer investing in wars... makes one think....

p.s. in my municipality it's worse since we do not pay for the quantity of water we use. it's included in the annual taxes... so people really don't care.....

- greywater is channeled into mulch basins around trees.

- toliets flush at 1.3 gallon

- use of "on-demand" tankless water heater

from your sink to your trees