Why should we have to ration the most abundant substance on the planet?
Friends of the Earth recommends:
1. Turn off the taps – Leaving a tap running while brushing teeth uses 6 litres of water a minute. And by fixing a dripping tap you can save over 60 litres of water a week.
2. Boil what you need – Only boil as many cups of water as you need for your tea round – you’ll be saving money and energy.
3. Shower with less – It’s easy to linger in the shower when you’re sleepy in the morning – four-minute timers can help. And switching to an efficient shower head will allow you to lather up in less water.
4. Save up your dirty clothes – Washing a full machine load of clothes uses less water and energy than two half-loads. This means lower bills as well.
5. Get a low-flush toilet – The average UK household flushes the loo 5,000 times per year. Modern dual-flush systems use just six litres – or four with a reduced flush – much less than the 13 litres for each old-style single flush.
6. Eat less meat – Rearing animals for meat and dairy is incredibly water-intensive. By cutting down on the amount of sausages and burgers you eat, you could slash your water use drastically.
7. Steam your veggies – As well as using less water than boiling, this retains more nutrients. If you do boil, try adding the water as tasty stock to soups, or water house or garden plants once it’s cooled.>
8. Reduce food waste – It takes a lot of water to produce our cereal, fruit and other food. More than half of the 7.2 million tonnes of food and drink UK households bin every year could have been eaten. Plan a week’s menu and go shopping with a list, use leftovers to create new meals and check use-by dates. This will help you waste less food – and save the average household £480 a year.
9. Time your gardening – Water outdoor plants in the early morning or at the end of the day stops water evaporating straight away in sunlight and heat. Also, watering onto the soil rather than leaves makes sure the liquid goes straight to the roots where it’s needed.
10. Catch rainwater – Installing water butts saves you turning on the tap – and your plants will thank you for rainwater rather than treated tap water. You can cut also water use by 33% by watering plants manually instead of using automatic sprinklers
Actually, I wondered if even pulling out the plastic washer was illegal! 🙂
“3. Pull the plastic washer out of the shower head and you will actually get enough water to shower with.”
Didn’t quite work for me. I still had to drill it out more to get it to flow enough water. (I hope that’s not a felony.)
1. Try plugging the sink and see how much water is actually “wasted” while tooth brushing. It’s not 6 liters, or at least not when I tested it.
3. Pull the plastic washer out of the shower head and you will actually get enough water to shower with.
5. Low flush toilets are great if you lose water and electricity simultaneously (like on a well system) because they don’t use as much water so you don’t have to store as much water in containers to use until the electricity comes back on.
6. Eat Bambi. Takes less water.
8. “Use by” dates are a major reason for waste. Let’s remove those.
10. You need rain before you can store rainwater. Not a problem in England, but as noted by MT Geoff, not so useful in arid regions. Last summer, we had 1/2″ of rain at my home.
As MT notes, the major problem with water is making it dirty faster than we can make it clean. We need better cleaning technology.
The very competent guy who takes care of our old house and who is a professional plumber says the low-flush toilet is baloney. The amount of water is too small to flush properly and causes frequent sewer stops demanding a costly and sometimes difficult operation to open the tubing again. I think he knows this better than these self-proclaimed Friends of the Earth
Whether plentiful or scarce, water still needs cleaning between the ground and the home and then it needs cleaning again between the home and the ground. That takes energy, as do delivery systems, so saving on water in many places is more of an energy saving than a water saving.
Billings is a semi-arid region and it does take a good deal of pumping to keep grass green through the summer. When I lived in Mississippi, the area didn’t even have sprinklers.
Nearly everyone pays for water, though, by the usage. We have reason to conserve for our own budgets.
Hmmm . . . would apply to beer, too.
“You don’t buy beer; you rent it.”
Control energy and you control the world economy.
THAT’s what a healthy chunk of the Eco-Socialists are after.
Never forget that, and never underestimate it.
I have run out of patience about having hose nozzles that will not spray water on my car, shower nozzles that produce a drizzle of lukewarm water and other forms of water conservation all attributable to the fact that there are too many humans living in California. I live on the East Coast; the quantity of water that falls onto my property every year is about 10 times the amount of water that I use per year. There is no need for me to conserve water.
There are only two problems with water. Getting it, and getting rid of it.
Control medical care, and you control the rich. Control water, and you control everyone else.
FoE is doing their part to support international/UN control of water.
Billions will die.
There are regions where water conservation is important, especially the American Midwest and Southwest, which are prone to multi-year droughts.
The odd thing about this is that the list is directed towards the British, who, to my knowledge, have no water shortage, no expected water shortage, no history of periodic droughts, and a shrinking population to boot.