The simplest water conservation trick out there

My last few posts on Carbon Capture and the kWh have been pretty cerebral. So I'm going to keep this one nice and light, and it is something that everyone in your home can help out with.

In Atlanta, we have been in a drought (even though it just rained for 4 straight days). Because of this I have tried to focus more on not wasting water ( I know, drought or not I should focus on it!). One of the tips I discovered is how I can capture the water that just goes down the drain when I'm waiting for the shower to heat up.

Just find an old milk jug or one of those big plastic Gatorade containers, put it under the shower head while you wait for the hot water to come out, then put it under your sink until the next time you are ready for a shower. It's that easy.

Since most of Atlanta will probably be under outdoor watering bans this Summer, I can use this "wasted" water to make sure my mini-garden doesn't go dry!

Tags:

garden

milk jug

shower

wasted water

Water

Category:

Water

Comments

Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 06/23/2009 - 09:32

Here’s a greener road to travel A typical car wash lasting 10 minutes uses approximately 100 gallons of water. What if we could conserve hundreds of gallons of water in one week. Go to a local car wash that uses recycled water or use an eco-friendly <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.rejuvenateauto.com/car-wash-waterless.php" rel="nofollow">waterless car wash</a>. It takes only 15 minutes, is effective and uses no water

Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/27/2009 - 06:20

Good simple idea, just as you say. But like all ideas, it can be significantly improved by encouraging your family to use the shower immediately after you complete yours. This will save a similar amount of water and save some of the energy used in standby mode between showers. Couple this with lowering your water heater temperature to the point where you do not need to add cold water in the shower will further increase savings by reducing the rate of standby losses. Going a little further, if you and members of your house are not home during the day and you have an electric water heater, you could turn the water heater off either manually or with a timer. As far as your mini-garden goes, mulch is a great way to cut down on water lost to evaporation, and even better is putting the water under the mulch directly to the plant. I have doubts that watering small home gardens actually reduce water availability in your area in total, but rather makes it more avilable to farmers and other commercial concerns. If it rained for the last 4 days, how much water have you collected from your gutters in barrels for your garden? If none, why not. A five gallon bucket hooked to a downspout drain can help a lot in a drought to let you put the water on your garden plants where you want it. Best to you, Ed

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