…. And every drop to drink.”
I’ve always been very frustrated that in the west all water in the house is drinking quality.
We wash with drinking water,
we wash our clothes with drinking water,
we clean the car with drinking water,
we water plants with drinking water,
we wash the floor with drinking water, we drink drinking water,
we cook with drinking water
And we flush the toilets with drinking water.
It seems very hard. We have been to many places
…where there is no drinking water available from a tap in a house.
…where water has to be collected from a shared well or tap
…. where water has to be boiled and filtered before it can be used
… where water carries diseases and dirt.
I try very hard to be aware of this with every drop that comes from the tap.
Meanwhile the average water consumption in the west is around 160 litres a day.
58,400 litre a year.
water facts south west
Yet people only drink about three litres a day.
What do we do with the rest of it? All of the above.
In our house it’s 53 litres per person on average.
This year’s water bill summary brought news that we’d reduced our consumption again.
Here’s one key thing we do.
We conserve water for washing.
1. When we shower the hot water system takes a long time to produce water warm enough to wash in.
So now we have a really smart solution.
It’s called a bucket.
When use it to collect the cool water.
And then
It’s another way to flush.
Meanwhile having a shower is something we don’t do all the time. Since I stopped using shampoo it means I wash my hair with water and it needs washing less. So often I don’t need a shower. I just wash.
First we run the cold water again and then use the hot to wash. And then it goes to the same place.
This way a lot of clean water is not allowed to run straight down the drain.
Plantbased Health Coach & Recipe Creator
a blog by a multilingual lifelong expat/international, linguist, researcher, speaker, mother of three, living in the Netherlands and writing about raising children with multiple languages, multiculturalism, parenting abroad, international life...
The planet is our home; we need to be more responsible. Here's what I do.
and that...
The planet is our home; we need to be more responsible. Here's what I do.
Those are good ideas. We actually have salt water in Gib to flush the toilets, and the rest of the water is desalinated.
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I was there once but not aware at the time. What a great idea but again supply is more challenging but people have to be more resourceful.
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That’s the way to go!
Spending a whole summer in a cabin without a bathroom made me realize how much water I could save without even feeling that it affected by well-being. I’m finding it quite easy and natural to get into the habits you describe here now that I have a bathroom again.
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That sounds like a fantastic experience. I guess that water is too easy to take for granted. We’ve also stayed a few places wherdcwater was scarce. Particularly on boats.
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When I lived in China we went travelling during the dry season and in the more remote areas they had no water to flush toilets. Can’t say it was pleasant but that really was an eye-opener!
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Yep. It does help you realise.
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I generally wash rather than shower now. I started when I first got a water meter about seven years ago – and nobody has complained!
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This is true. Its not that big a deal either. Showers are often a way to wake up not to get clean.
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Oh, si that’s why I’m so slow in the morning😉!
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Ah ha!
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I’ve been doing the bucket routine for a few years. My wife isn’t in to it. When she showers first the bucket is empty. When I take my shower the water gets hot fast.
So I rinse my eye glasses and fill a cup to use for brushing my teeth or shaving.
I’ve also been trying the no shampoo idea. I think I’m comfortable w/ every other day, unless I run. Then I’m a bit of a mess!
Cheers – Andy
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I missed replying to this comment. Sorry. Sounds like you’ve a good system there.
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I Was thinking that those people in the west were pretty selfish….. Then I realized that I am one of those people in the west…sigh
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Unfortunately yes we are. : (
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