We got our water bill in the mail today. It's nothing new - just the same as every month for us. However, this time we paid attention to the gallons and to the "comparison" chart included. I was flabbergasted with the results.
Here's the scoop:
We are a family of five, with a pool and a hot tub...and we use cloth diapers and cloth pull-ups.
Our monthly usage is 4000 gallons.
Divided by people in household (5) and number of days in the billing month (29), that makes 27.6 gallons per person, per day.
The typical water usage in Mesa ranges from 80 to 180 gallons per person per day!
The chart from the city rates "excellent" at 30-80 gallons per person per day...so we are beyond excellent! We're supreme! We must be uber-excellent!
So how do we do it?
* If it's yellow, let it mellow! Do not flush the toilet after you pee...unless there are already a few pees in the pot!
A low-flow toilet uses ~3 gallons per flush! So if you pee say 7 times a day (?), but only flush twice, you've just saved 15 gallons! Now if you have four potty-users in your house, that's already 60 gallons saved. Something to think about.
* High efficiency washing machine. More expensive to start, but huge environmental impact.
* Dishwasher
* No grass in the desert landscape - in fact, we hardly ever water anything in our yard...now granted, our yard is ugly!
* Conscious use of water every time - sink, shower, hose, etc.
That's it! A bit of a bragging post, but hopefully something to get you thinking about where YOU can cut down on water use. Let me know any other tricks and tips you already use!
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4/23/08 additional thoughts
Lest we seem like we're doing it all here...I was thinking this morning of some obvious fixes we can do to conserve more:
* Install low-flow shower heads and faucets. The new versions of these aerate the water, so you don't lose out on pressure, you just use less water. Both our showers are in need of new sprayers, so here's a good one for us to do.
* Replace old gazillion-gallon flushing toilet. One of ours is a new, low-flow, but the other one...yikes. You can also put a brick (or similar) in the tank to reduce water. We just haven't yet...
* Cut down on my shower time. I am guilty of hanging out in the hot water way too long. Does it get balanced out though since the kids don't bathe very often? LOL
* Get rid of hot tub we don't use.
8 comments:
Wow, that's great! I think I'll invest in a HE washing machine after this move. We already do the "let it mellow" thing around here. Too lazy to flush every time! LOL We don't water the grass, because we don't ever need to here in the Midwest. I do take long showers, though. That's one of my vices that I perhaps should work on.
Jen, have you read Cadillac Desert? Awesome book. Lawn watering was definitely my first guess! It blows my mind that people living in the desert strive for tropical landscaping in their yard!
However, I had no idea that dishwashers save water. Ours seems to be swishing on and on and on for far longer than I would take to hand wash a sinkful. Front loaders are a miracle of technology, already knew that. I plead guilty on flushing pee. Gabriel, however, rarely flushes whatever he's done, so does that even it out? LOL
I have not read Cadillac Desert...though it's sitting on my bookshelf!
The deal with dishwashers is you must load them all the way...and don't use the heat-dry setting (not a water thing, but energy conservation).
To be honest, I'm not savvy enough to know whether older models afford the same conservation, but for sure a full modern one does. I believe it's supposedly 1/3 the water that handwashing would use?
Wow. This inspired me to look at my water bills and sure enough we are using much more than 4000 gals a month. I'll take the challenge to reduce use this month.
That's great, Auntie! I'd love to hear how you do, and whether you see a difference :) Please be sure to either report back, or blog about it!
I'm thinking that not fitting in a shower AT ALL (as a new mom of two trying to figure out her groove still)counts as water saving! haha Love to hear your notes on living more earth-friendly-good reminders =)
PS...I was feeling proud for our usage of cloth diapers, but then I just realized that we have gone through one and a 1/2 jugs (supposed to be 150 loads a piece) of laundry soap since L was born 5 weeks ago. mmm...not good at all.
Hmmm... so this is why we've suddenly started to let it mellow at our house lately...
Miss you guys. J, love all the pics and the stories on your site. Can't wait to visit and take a dip in that pool.
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