Fifteen years ago we were all turning off the faucet while we brushed our teeth and cutting those plastic six pack things up with scissors so that they wouldn’t strangle ducks. These days it’s all about electric cars and windmills and reducing our carbon footprint. In other words, the sermon has changed when it comes to conservation, but the fact is that people never did change that much. So we should still be just as interested in how to save water as we are about carbon credits. Every society changes over time, but perhaps when it comes to saving water we should take a look back – way back.
Just 150 years ago everyone was a water conservationist. No really, no one wasted a drop. Not because they were afraid their grandkids wouldn’t have enough, but for a far more pragmatic reason. If you had to carry every drop of water you used in a bucket from as far as a mile away – you would conserve it too. Gravity fed plumbing is what has led to the monumental waste of water. Call it a crime of convenience. The water runs out, and you don’t even think about it. If you had to carry it one 20 pound bucket a time a thousand steps each way instead of just flipping a little metal handle; well, you would be a lot more careful with it too.
The real shame is that most of the water you use isn’t really all that dirty when you’re done with it. As a matter of fact, the stuff that comes out of your sink and tub makes the greatest stuff ever to put on your plants and lawn. The proper term for this type of water is gray water. It’s a little cloudy from soap suds and maybe some foodstuffs or dirt from your feet and hands, but other than those minor things it’s fine. You wouldn’t want to make lemonade out of it, but it would be great on the rhododendrons. About the only thing in your home that really needs to be seriously treated is what’s coming from your toilet, and that’s completely understandable. Although, not too many decades ago everyone was perfectly ok with the outhouse – but that’s another soap box for another day.
Want to rid yourself of plumbing problems once and for all? Want the greenest yard in town without installing a super wasteful automatic sprinkler system? See if it is within your city ordinances to run your gray water out onto your lawn. we once had a minor leak in the water coming from our kitchen out to the main sewer pipe. It went right under the garden. You should have seen the plants simply explode. There were basil bushes six feet tall and the tomatoes? Our mouths still water to this day in a sort of pavlovian way to the thought of those bright red bulging tomatoes.
So, if you’re really serious about looking for tips on how to save water, the best place to start is the two areas where the most water is wasted; watering the lawn and gray water waste from the house. Hey, if you can kill two birds with one stone, that’s saving a lot of water without ever changing a thing about your lifestyle.
