With all the people collecting water in buckets in showers, i wonder why we haven’t gotten to the point where grey water is automatically collected and used. At least for flushing toilets. Or, for use with drip irrigation systems and the like.
I know that in the past the issue was with children and pets potentially being exposed to non-potable water, but does anyone know the current status of these projects? I probably could Google, but more fun to ask here.
At the very least, there should be a switch you could flip in your home shower to turn it to grey water collection mode. People are obviously reusing shower water thru the bucket method anyway. Why not make the collection and diversion automatic, at least in new construction, with option for homeowner to turn it off when contamination with filth is a possibility. Wonder if this would present public health issues.
I think I’d use a water filter/softener if I had hard water. It’s hard on your skin and hair too.
( I also did not want a glass enclosure, just for that reason!)
One very easy thing to do with the shower water (and I should really start to do this), is use it to flush the toilet. You don’t need to pour it in the tank. You can just keep the full bucket next to the toilet, then dump it in the bowl when you need to flush. The force of the water triggers it to “flush”. (and have I been doing this? No. But I could, and I should, and maybe I’ll start doing this!) We are in a drought in austin because the lakes are very low…but right now, it feels like we are living in a tropical rain forest. Rain and rain and rain and green plants and high humidity, but the lakes from which we draw our water are low.
Glad I don’t really need to conserve water now, but I spent a couple years in a drought-stricken country in Africa.
It got so bad at times that people had to wait in line to get one bucket of water from a truck every day. Some villages had “washing bans” (water for drinking ONLY, no bathing, no washing clothes. . .) Most people did not have showers, and (when there was no washing ban), bathing was done by putting a small amount of water (probably a gallon or two?) in a plastic pan, and pouring/splashing it over your body while standing in the pan. Then soap up a little, rinse with same water. Clothes might then be washed in the same soapy water/same pan (laundry detergent was often used for bathing), and rinsed with a bit of clean water. Even if you had a shower, a pan was placed in the shower and water was turned on and off while lathering. There was no hot water, so I learned that the best way to take fast showers/conserve water is to take cold showers. Then you will really want to keep that cold water turned off as much as possible, only using it to quickly get wet/quickly rinse. (Anyone want to try this? )
Here is a way to eliminate wet towels/get your bath towels to dry faster. . .dry yourself off in the shower by running your damp washcloth over your body/wring/repeat if necessary. Then, when you get out of the shower, you are almost dry and your towel never gets soaking wet/dries very quickly from that little bit of dampness, and won’t have to be washed very often. Have you ever forgotten (or had someone steal) your towel when showering in a dorm? That’s how I learned this method.
Would it be disgusting to throw a used towel in the dryer for a couple of minutes? It seems kind of disgusting to me but I can’t quite articulate why. I could then at least fold it and keep it neatly until the next use.
We have a water reclamation plant at the sewage treatment facility. It only processes to the second level, not tertiary. So, the water can’t be used to recharge the aquifer. The water can be used for landscaping, however only at places they can pipe it to. The plant is a sea level, so pumping it to places at higher altitudes costs more money. Most of the water used at the local UC is reclaimed. They do pump reclaimed water at night (lower electricity demand for large users) uphill to a large golf course pond, from which it can be used by the golf course and a nearby high school.
There are residential greywater systems like what nottelling describes. They involve a lot of replumbing and digging to install a big cistern. So, I don’t think it would be anywhere close to cheap. Better for new housing. Not much new housing in our area of CA.
I’ve thrown wet but not especially dirty towels in the dryer, especially in foggy season where things don’t dry on their own. They come out nice and fluffy. Try it; you might find it’s OK.
How do you catch shower water with a bucket? When I shower, the water goes on me directly, and there isn’t room for anything right where I stand that would catch the water. At least no place that I wouldn’t trip over it.
I guess if it takes awhile for your water to get warm, it would make sense to keep this water. Mine is warn very quickly because our water heater is nearby. I think the most efficient thing i can do to conserve water in the shower is to take shorter showers, which I’ve started doing.
When you realize how little water people in some third world countries have available, it really makes our problems (and efforts) seem small in comparison.
A letter to the editor in the LA Times suggested we need to resort to isopropyl alcohol sponge baths LOL. In Japan they have toilets with the hand wash basin above the toilet tank so the water goes to fill the tank- so simple and so logical.
Maybe this would be an appropriate place to share portable water filters. http://www.friendlywaterfortheworld.com
Also D much prefers the gravity filters, for backpackng.
I don’t use much of a towel to dry off because many years ago I bought at a home show a wooden scraper called “The Indian Towel” which I can’t find sold today. It scrapes away the water so you only need a towel for a very small area of your body. Maybe the closest thing around is something like [url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Le-Edge-Full-Body-Exfoliator/dp/B00565D6XW/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8%5Dthis%5B/url”>http://www.amazon.com/Le-Edge-Full-Body-Exfoliator/dp/B00565D6XW/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top?ie=UTF8]this[/url].
I love big, soft, fluffy white towels made out of the thickest, thirstiest terry cloth. I am definitely not looking for substitutes! It is one of my little indulgences.
My shower goes into the tub, and while I usually shower at swimming, when I do it at home, I plug the drain so the tub fills up to soak my feet, then I give myself a pedicure after.
We received our water bill this month which listed the amount of water we will be allowed before we are charged for overages, which are fairly steep. Because of our area, we are to cut back 36% per month.
Originally I thought they were going to look at three months in 2013 and take the 36% from the average of those months. What they are actually doing is looking at all 12 months in 2013, and calculating your allowed usage month by month. Makes more sense, as more water is used during the drier months, but it also makes it a bit tricky if you have big variation during the year because conditions really aren’t that predictable.
I think it will be doable if we change out our landscaping in the front yard. An expensive proposition and the $1 per cubic foot of rebate isn’t that helpful. Right now our grass in front is dry and patchy which looks pretty sad.
BunsenBurner- re: the health experts. That’s all well and good but I have no desire to use the towel on my face today that I used on my butt and feet yesterday. I’m still a fresh towel every day gal.
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