Reducing our water footprint #ctww
Small Footprints has set us a difficult one for this week’s “Change the World Wednesday“.
It’s all about reducing our water usage.
And I’ve blogged before that doing this is something I find difficult.
Little Miss Green tends to produce a LOT of laundry. Despite repeated requests to keep her room tidy and bring down dirty washing as and when; it seems to be that once or twice a week a whole pile of stuff turns up at the washing machine.
And I’m quite sure some of it has never been worn – it’s just the easier option to chuck it in the wash rather than put away clean laundry.
Mr Green insists of leaving the tap running when he has a wash or brushes his teeth.
I don’t know why that is and every time I bring it up in conversation my requests fall on deaf ears. Something about a life long habit that he isn’t about to change now.
Recently we’ve had a lot of work on and as I work behind a computer screen all day I find one of the best ways to relax my mind and rest my body is in a bath of hot water.
So I’m having a bath nearly every day at the moment.
In my defense, I do share the water with Mr Green 😉
Here are some of the suggestions we’ve been given for reducing our water consumption:
- Install at least one low-flow aerator on a faucet in your home.
- Eat no meat, pork or poultry (they all require a lot of water to produce).
- Reduce or eliminate spending (except for true essentials).
- Keep a pitcher of drinking water in the refrigerator instead of running the tap.
- Review your water bill history to determine periods of high use and make plans to reduce during those times (it’s also a good tool for determining leaks).
- Fix leaky faucets or toilets.
- Consider removing some of the lawn (or all of it) and planting native shrubs, plants, trees, etc.
- When refreshing your pet’s water, or changing the water in a fish tank, use it to feed your plants.
No 1 isn’t going to happen. I actually like our high water pressure because I’m impatient. I know, I know!
No 2 – well I eat chicken a few times a week but I’m surprised to read it takes a lot of water to raise a chicken. We have them for eggs and they use little water, so I’d be interested to learn more.
No 3 – I could do this; I don’t mind having a small spend week; in fact this would do us good!
No 4- This is somewhere we get full points. I never run the tap as I boil and cool my water before drinking any way -woohoo!
No 5 – We don’t have a water meter so I have no idea how much we use; which probably accounts for my blase attitude.
No 6 – We don’t have any leaks and we adopt the ‘if it’s yellow let it mellow’ mantra, so I’m giving myself a brownie point here as well.
No 7 – No way to this one. I love my grass and we never water it as we live on a clay bed.
No 8 – I empty my hot water bottle onto the house plants in the evening before filling with hot water – does that count?
So I think I’m left with a no-spend week aren’t I?
Game On!
What about you – are there any areas in which you could reduce your water usage?