Drip, drip, drip… we hear, we know, and one day, we’ll fix that tap. But are we aware between now and then, how much water is going down the drain?
A basic drop can lose 26 + gallons [+ – 100 liters] a day. This adds up to 9,500 + gallons [36,500 liters] a year! A tap usually only needs something as small as a worn washer changed for a leakage repair. Imagine if every few homes in each city or community didn’t worry, not even for the garden tap or hose.
An average bath tub uses between 40-60 gallons [+ – 152 – 227 liters,] depending on their size, and their users. It won’t make a person cleaner to be full, nor will it kill us to share the water sometimes either. Many on the Earth would give the world just to feel the water on their skin, despite who touched it first, walking miles or kilometers to reach what they could, in whatever condition it is in. .
Hot water consumption is + – 20-35 gallons [ 90-150liters ] per person daily, and we could save by re-using the water to pre-soak dirty clothes before the basic wash, after a bath. This prevents a heavier cycle in a washing machine, plus energy with a cold wash instead, saving a wash-load of hot water.
Shower heads can be modified to allow more pressure with less water volume, which also aids to economize. Long hot showers can use up to 10 gallons [ + – 38 liters ] every minute, where the adapted flow only needs 2.5 gallons. [ + – 9.5 liters] Indulgences are fun, but running out if water is not.
Clean teeth after wetting the brush, and use a glass of cold water to rinse the mouth. Shave, using a good hot water mug, then splashing on a small amount of cold water in the wash basin is healthy and refreshing for the skin tone.
Toilets can be flushed on ½ flush to preserve water, or adapt their tank floats to less flow rate. Don’t flush anything else unnecessarily down the loo. Use a waste bin. Being water conscious, we make plans to conserve, as we become too complacent when there is more.
For kitchen use, washing non greasy dishes in cold water with a few slices of lemon, then rinse in clean bowl instead of a running cold tap. Save all cold run off when requiring hot water for any cooking usage, or washing vegetables. Keep a spare thermos of boiled water for hot drinks or beverages.
Outdoor, or into the garden, check all pipes for leaks, and remember the drip with that hose. Don’t waste water in gutters, paths nor drive-ways when watering. Use buckets to wash the car, and if possible, where the run-off helps water any lawn. Learn how to make use of grey water for gardening.
Mulch around plants and tree-shrubs to prevent evaporation. Create condensation with plastic bottle bases over small plants, or see through bags tied over tree foliage to collect the same, to use.
Try planting a drought resistant garden. Vascular plant life as succulents and juicy shrubs, sometimes have proved to be fire breaks if a home is well established and surrounded with these.
Many ways technically are tried and tested to make things simpler for places where water is running out swiftly, and answers lie with responsible users. Counties or Countries could save more from fast going down the drains of what to do with all the rain when it does bucket down.
As individuals, don’t lose what we can be salvage! Allot water catchments when it rarely rains, in tanks, drums, buckets, or smaller vessels, and keep emptying the portable items into the bath-tubs, washing machines, kitchen or laundry sinks. Kettles to boil, pots to cook, vases, indoor plants, anything! Rejoice with the rains sent freely in times of hardship as a blessing, and fill what is empty. Water, once taken so much for granted, is wasted all over the world due to our real lack of what we don’t do, or know.
Recall those who have no water facilities, and we will remember any conceivable way we can think of, to conserving what we can. It is better to try, than to have none to fall back on. We humans, and our planet, are both made up of 70% H20, and need it more than any thing else to survive.
Make a plan and work on it, the same as one tries for new energy resources. Give back to life our most necessary commodity, in this precious element we call water.
