Well, I started a dialogue in my house about water. I tried to get them to think about how much they used for simple tasks like showering, washing their hands or rinsing dishes. The kids wanted to know how much our water bill had increased over the last period. It went up about 17% -- big whoop they replied. The dollar amount wasn't really significant but it isn't just about the amount of money spent but about conserving this precious resource.
I read the insert that came with the water bill that had tips for using less. Only water your lawn in the early morning or evening. It kills me that this is widely accepted (we have watered our lawn at times, I'll admit, but very conservatively) when there are people who have no clean water to drink and grass isn't something we can eat. Shouldn't our municipal water company tell people that watering a lawn at any time of day is a waste of water? Use your dishwasher when it is full rather than hand washing dishes because the dishwasher is more efficient. I tried to take their advice on most things. So far so good.
A friend of mine who had recently completed treatment for breast cancer called to tell me about an e-mail newsletter article about the dangers of plastics, especially BPA (think old Nalgene bottles that have been taken off the market) to women with hormone sensitive cancers. We shouldn't put plastics in the microwave or dishwasher because the heat degrades the plastic. We should look for and use canned goods which do not have liners made with BPA -- lots of luck with that one. I began to hand wash the plastics but got concerned that I was using an awful lot of hot/warm water. I switched to cold water and used less dish soap. The plastics are still clean.
I tried to rid my house of canned goods with BPA liners figuring that even if I don't have a hormone sensitive type of cancer why should I subject my family to a potential health hazard. Almost every brand of canned foods has these liners. Tomatoes are the worst food to eat from such a can due to the acid in them. Instead of buying canned tuna I buy it in a pouch -- looks like cat food. Instead of making my own spaghetti sauce out of canned tomato puree I went back to sauce in a glass jar -- Mid's tastes better anyway. Instead of buying canned beans I went out and bought dried beans and large Mason jars for pantry storage. Beans take a long time to cook and planning ahead is needed. Now I'm wondering if I'm not wasting electricity by making my own refried beans -- my family says mine are better than canned ones and I have to agree with them.
I have looked at my own personal water usage, too. I take shorter showers with cooler water which is easy to do in the summer. I don't know what I'll do in the winter when a steaming shower is frequently the only time during the day that I'm completely warm. I have a high efficiency washing machine and try to only run full loads. I don't let the water run until it's really cold for a glass of water, instead I use the dispenser on the refrigerator. One place I know use too much water is when rinsing the dishes that I hand wash because I can't stand to have floaties in my dishwater. I've put a rubber spatula next to the sink to scrape food off without water and then rinse sparingly. I stopped rinsing out containers that can't be recycled and therefore end up in my trash can. I sparingly rinse other recyclables -- no need to fill a 1/2 gallon milk carton with water to rinse it out.
I can't stand to have dirty hands, knife handles, etc. when I cook so I'm constantly rinsing and washing my hands. Obviously, I need to wash them well when I handle raw meats but I do not need to wash them after I've measured a teaspoon of salt in the palm of my hand, added the salt to the pot and notice that a few crystals remain stuck to my hand. They won't hurt anything.
I have a rain barrel that we used at our previous house. I haven't gotten around to using it here, yet. I've seen lots of them popping up all over the neighborhood. I don't think I would have needed it this summer. The rains we've gotten have been timely and I've only watered outdoor plants once. I'm thinking I'll have it operable next spring.
In the midst of all this I read a special report on water in the May 22nd - 28th issue of "The Economist." Over 97% of the water on Earth is salt water. The remaining 2.5% of freshwater is mostly frozen, so all living things (except those in the oceans) subsist on about 0.75% of the total water on Earth. That fraction is used for agriculture, manufacturing, power production and domestic consumption. The population is growing quickly so we'll need more food, more stuff, more power and more clean water to drink and it all has to come from that same small fraction of the water on Earth.
