The other drought thread is helpful but discusses the drought from a higher level. I’m wondering what people are doing day to day to conserve.
DH and I are doing all the ‘easy’ things like taking shorter showers, running larger (but fewer) loads of laundry, etc. but there are a couple of areas that I just don’t know too much about. We don’t have a lawn but do have lots of plants and foliage with drip irrigation. I don’t know what % of our water usage is used for irrigation but do suspect we could change the timer/frequency. The second is the amount of time it takes hot water to get to the master shower (couldn’t be farther from the hot water heater). Recently I’ve been wondering how much it would cost/what would be involved with getting a tankless water heater and whether the amount of water that would be saved would make sense considering the cost involved.
Anyone knowledgable about drip irrigation and/or tankless water heaters? Anyone want to share how you’re conserving water?
We’ve had two severe droughts since living in our current location. After the first, I bought several rain barrels that dh connected to our downspouts so we could use what little rain we did get to keep plants alive. We also kept a plastic bucket in each shower so that after showering we could use that water for plants, too. Sprinkler systems were supposed to be run only from late night until about 6 a.m. since the water would evaporate quickly during the day, and there were specific days for even and odd addresses. We cut back to once a week for our lawn and while it browned up those two years, it did recover the following years.
I love drip hoses for planting beds. Gardener’s Supply has a nice kit for connecting regular hose sections and drip hose sections so no water is wasted by running onto places it isn’t needed.
Our experience with a tankless water heater wasn’t great. The water had to run longer, at greater volume, to get hot at the tap compared to our standard water heater. The main benefit seems to be not running out of hot water, but with only two of us at home now that’s not a problem.
I think drip irrigation is the most efficient form of watering. I don’t have it everywhere, but I’m working on it. Our main focus is changing our lawn area to drought tolerant plants, which would really be a savings in the yard. I’ve been taking photos of my neighbors yards where they have made some of these changes and hope to incorporate them in my landscape, and I’m looking for a landscape designer. It’s going to be a fairly expensive proposition. In the meantime, I’m letting most of my lawn go yellow this season. The part that stays green is shaded by trees and doesn’t require much water.
Our shower gets warm fast. We have two water heaters- one for the front of the house and one for the back, which probably helps a lot. My biggest water waste comes from cooking and the clean-up involved. I keep a large bowl in the sink and try to catch the run-off in that when I’m washing veggies or dishes, but then running out to the garden with my bowl and dumping it on the potted plants three of four times while making dinner really disrupts the cooking process. :-/ Full loads in the dishwasher, always, and minimal pre-rinsing. Re-use cups and glasses. I’m still working on trying to figure out water conserving methods that work well in the kitchen.
I have stopped flushing every time I use the bathroom. ( tmi??) It’s just me at home during the day, so I don’t mind, but I use the toilet in the master bath so that if someone drops in I’m not embarrassed. My showers are shorter; if I’m not washing my hair I can get in and out under 5 minutes, and I really try not to linger, although I do miss it. Laundry loads haven’t changed much- still need clean clothes, but there are only two of us living here, so we only do a few loads a week.
Our shower water takes a long time to get warm. I fill a bucket with the colder water until the shower water gets warm. I used to take the bucket of water outside to put on our plants, but hated that the water would slosh all over on my way out the door. Now I keep the bucket of water by our toilet and use the water to refill the toilet tank after we flush.
I took out all my grass, front, back & side yards about 7-10 yrs ago and replaced it with mostly native plants.
I did all the work myself except for planting a thuja hedge, which my H took care of, so it wasn’t initially expensive as I have been getting plants on sale/ propagating myself, and I always buy the smallest I can, because they make a healthier transition.
I shower only about once a week at home, very short, rest of time I shower at the public pool also very short.
We have multiple rain barrels for watering. I also take my car to the car wash, rather than washing it at home.
I also don’t ever buy bottled water, unless I am traveling and that’s the only thing available.
Only run appliances which use water when full.
Reuse plates & cups.
I’m in Seattle btw, if I was in Ca, I would probably feel more urgency.
I don’t live in drought area but I am a plumber’s daughter and I’ve been conscientious about water my whole life (I’m honestly not sure why- I think my dad just imprinted on me at a young age just how much water we really use and flush when not even thinking about it).
We don’t have a yard. Well, I mean we have a patch of land in front and back but we let nature take its course. For the most part, they do ok but if they go brown, we don’t care.
I only wash my car a few times a year- to get the salt from winter off.
I do quick showers and my fiance and I generally shower together… ahem, to save water, of course. I do shower every day though- I have tried not washing my hair daily and have not found a suitable way for it to not become a greasy gross mess after 24 hours without washing.
Only use reusable water bottles. Bottled water isn’t bought at my house and we try to drink water whenever possible. It takes a lot more water to make drinks than to just drink the water from your tap.
Only run dishes and clothes when loads are full. For clothes, I don’t separate darks and lights or whites and others so there are always full loads. Plus, I’ll wear pants, hoodies, and bras multiple times before washing them.
Then there’s things you don’t think of- like I rarely waste food, only buy new clothes when my last ones aren’t even charity-donation worthy, buy local, etc. Water is used for a LOT of things that are not associated with “water” per se.
When we had a drought, we bought tree gators, which are plastic things you attach to a tree. Fill with water and it keeps the tree alive without any additional watering.
When I was growing up, my dad wouldn’t even let us run the water when we were soaping up our hair in the shower.
Get it wet then turn the water off, only turn it back on to rinse.
Brrr.
Drip irrigation in flower beds, only water the damn fescue once a week. And I would love to get rid of the grass but dam HOA mandates fescue in west Texas…Cause ya know they are smart like that!
We do a lot of the above. We got tired of the rarely flushing toilet thing, so DH installed one of those 2-mode toilets a few months back. The 1/2 flush uses very little water.
Actually, what dropped our water use a whole lot (like 60%) is that we had a water main break in our front yard. It must have been leaking at a slower rate for a couple years judging by our water bills. The water never came up through the very small patch of lawn until a few months ago; it must have just been going down to feed tree roots. (Luckily, replacing it was “only” $3500.)
I believe you can have your water system leak tested to see if there are any problems. I’d suggest doing this if your conservation efforts aren’t showing the results you’d like on your water bills.
If you don’t know how to reprogram your irrigation timer, you can Google the brand and model and probably find the manual for it online. We are only allowed to water two days a week and only after dark. I actually haven’t watered since our water main break outside, but will probably start again soon since it likely won’t rain any until fall.
We have had a tankless water heater for several years. It does not cut down on the time to get hot water (increases it a bit), but it did cut our gas bill.
To get hot water to our showers quickly, we are investigating having a hot water re-circulating pump with a timer installed, as we, too, can fill a large bucket before shower warms up. Neighbors have one on timer so they have hot water pronto for morning shower, but it doesn’t heat all day long. They claim it does not jack up their electric bill and they do save water.
I also keep a container near kitchen sink as I realized a lot of water can be recycled: water from pasta and hard boiled eggs; washing salad greens; rinsing dishes not in dwr; and half drank water glasses (argh! just drink the whole glass or only fill it half full to begin with!)
Scary thing will be if we are asked to cut back more…since we’ve been quite frugal with water for a long time!
I’ve always been a bit OCD about pristinely clean towels and sheets, and washing towels has been a big source of water consumption in my household. With the drought, I know the habit of washing towels after a single use must be changed.
But how many times do you think a bath towel that is not visibly soiled can be used before it needs to be laundered? Is air drying between uses the way to go?
And, how often do people change their sheets? Has anyone changed their habits with respect to these items?
Even in rainy Seattle we can have drought. The snow pack in the mountains is precipitously thin, which could spell trouble in the summer months! So, here are our water conservation measures.
We have a whole house water circulation system. No need to pre-run the shower to get hot water out. It comes out the second you turn the shower on. In the winter time the water pipes under the bathroom floor double up as a floor heating system. Nice.
Drip irrigation is great. My veggies get their drink of water without being drenched. Tomatoes love the fact that no water drips on the leaves. Our entire 1/2 acre yard is drip irrigated, but we only sparingly water the trees and the shrubs that already have established roots.
I am slowly working on removing the back lawn; there is no and has never been any grass in the front.
We have "1/2" toilet flush buttons in the most often used toilet.
I run washer and DW only with full loads.
I must be a complete slob by some posters' standards, but I reuse towels after dying, 2-3 times at least. It the body is squeaky clean, the towel is just soaking up clean drops of water, right? Why not dry and reuse it? I change our sheets weekly. We are always clean, so why change them more often?. :) Oh, and I wash my hair every other day unless I run or do yardwork. My stylist insists that 2-3 times a week is the optimal washing that maintains healthier hair, but I can't do 2. :)
We are removing 5 lawns. Met with a landscape designer yesterday, who will be submitting a new planting plan where the lawns are coming out. What I found out about our outdoor water usage, after I did a water audit (taking a water meter reading before and after running the sprinklers), was somewhat mind blowing: We consume this time of year 1000 gallons of water during one complete watering day cycle. What shocked me was that we use the same amount of water for our planters, that are all on drip, as we do for our lawn! Reason? We have so many plants and trees. The good news with this is plants and trees only need watering once per week, on average, after they are established, while lawns need twice that frequency or more. We have approximately 7,000 s.f. of planters and 2,400 s.f. of lawn.
We will be planting a much less dense planting plan, using more drought tolerant plants and trees, and mulching all areas. Our water company (EBMUD) gives us a credit of a “whopping” .75 per s.f. for the lawn that is being removed with lots of strings attached and hoop jumping-- application, design, type of plants and trees, type of drip line, permeable hardscape, pre and post inspection, etc. etc.
I’m eager to hear about your new plantings as they come along, jshain! I want to do something similar. How did you find your landscape designer? Does he/she do the whole thing (design, arrange plantings and contractors) or does he recommend people and you then hire them yourself?
I hope our public gardens are able to maintain their lush plantings. One of my favorite places in the world is the Huntington Library and Gardens. I go there about once a month just to walk around, enjoy the gardens and visit my favorite paintings. Anyone know what is going to happen with places like that?
