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west_gardener

Need water saving tips.

west_gardener
10 years ago

We have a drought in CA. Our water company has called for 20% water savings, and I would appreciate your tips on water savings.
My tip, with a reminder from lilo's post, is to use paper plates, to cut down on running the dishwasher.
Another tip is to cut down on watering the lawn.
Cut down on the toilet flushes, yuk.
Use "gray" water on trees and plants, with non edible fruit.
Don't run the water while brushing teeth.
Take short showers, and no baths. Yuk. But it has to be part of the program.
Any hints will be welcome.

This post was edited by west_gardener on Fri, Jan 31, 14 at 18:40

Comments (5)

  • mawheel
    10 years ago

    I hope this won't be offensive, but it works; if it's just you and your husband, coordinate bathroom visits, (#1, only!). It cuts the number of flushes in half.

    If it takes a while for you to get hot water, have a gallon bottle handy, and save the water for whatever you need. Our kitchen faucet is so far from the hot water heater, one and one-half gallons of water would go down the drain, before it got hot enough to be of use.

    If I think of anymore hints, I'll share them.

  • lilosophie
    10 years ago

    I go with Mcwheel: get a container under the faucet to draw water until it gets hot.
    Cutting down on flushes is no big deal, we are too attached to "sanitation" - I have No water for flushes now, what to do? Could rent a porta-potty, expensive and outside, so I use the commode I had when I broke my hip, put a bucket under it, put shavings and ash into the bucket, dump it once a day into a garbage can, where the stuff will compost in a few month - a home-made composting toilet. Surprisingly it doesn't smell. no chemicals, as would be in a porta-potty.
    Hope you are not having to do that, it's rather radical, but it does work.
    A hard habit to break is to toss small amounts of leftover water into the sink, I have a container to catch that and use it for the pet-water or toss it on house-plants.
    Hand-wash dishes and use the laundromat - if needed. So far Joann and I have a friend who is lucky to have a very good well ad lets us take showers at his house and graciously gave permission to do laundry in his place (1 mile up the road from us)
    but we need to find alternatives for the long haul if the well does not recover
    Probably more than you need to know or want to know LOL

  • west_gardener
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for the tips. They are very useful.
    Lilo, the way you describe the "potty" issue, is pretty much the way they did it on a Chinese commune I visited. Everyone had their private bucket, the school children brought theirs to school. After the waste was treated, they used it for firtelizer (sp). They called it "heavy water".

  • pkramer60
    10 years ago

    Wasn't there a tip of putting a brick in the toilet tank to save on water?

    Make sure you are doing a full load of laundry too.

  • west_gardener
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    We used to place a brick, wrapped in plastic and double wrapped in foil in the tank
    Then they came out with a water saving kit that you placed in the tank and replaced the flush lever, with two buttons, one for #1 and the other for #2. DH installed the kits years ago and they have worked very well. It saved us from having to buy new toilets.
    I have a very old washer and it has all manual controls, so I can regulate the water level I need.
    Thanks for the tips.

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