Doing dishes on a water budget.
Submitted by Guest on Tue, 2010-03-02 21:35
Day 2.
So far, so good. In fact, I'm surprised at how little water I've used so far! Yesterday totalled a whopping 10.11 L for the entire day. --That being said, I did eat lunch at a restaurant and dinner at a friend's house, so I guess I 'outsourced' the water used to wash those dishes (though I did avoid bringing home styrofoam, which Ottawa isn't yet recycling).
I also drank a 355mL gingerale that I didn't factor in.
Moving forward, I think I'm going to avoid bottled or canned beverages for the rest of the month, and also avoid eating at restaurants as much as possible.
I'm also contemplating putting a glass juice bottle, filled with water, in the back of the tank of a toilet at work to displace some of the 6L that are used with every flush. That, and maybe put up a sign with some quick facts and why "letting it mellow" isn't such a serious crime. This is something I generally practice at home anyway, and I have other friends that do as well, but I think in general there's a serious "ick" factor that people need to get over. --But that's a blog post for another day.
Tonight, I do dishes. Here's my system, explained.
(Please rate the video when you watch it, this means it will show up in more searches and more people will see it.
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Quick point of clarification: In doing this challenge, I'm not saying everyone should be this extreme; I'm simply trying to show how little water we really need to go about our daily activities, vs. the average Canadian's consumption of 329 L of water a day. The idea is to get people thinking about water as a service instead of a good. What services does water provide us? Do we need really need water for these things? If so, what quality of water? And do we really need as much as we've been using?
This is a challenge for me, but in so doing, I'm hoping to get you to think about how much water you use every day, and where you could cut back.
Comments
More thoughts on Day 2
Celeste,
I was thinking about you last night when I was having a glass of water (and in the luxury of a normal cup, no less!), and I had some thoughts on your recent post that I wanted to share.
While I think that your attempt to limit products that contain water/outsource water is admirable, I think it may lead to a pretty unfortunate snowball effect. While your gingerale may contain water that you cannot necessarily account for as your own usage, what about any of the food you eat? Yogurt...you've got the water needed to make the container (and heaven knows our processing plants are water hogs), as well as the process from turning cow milk into yogurt (and the water to feed the cow, and the water to nourish the plants that feed the cow, and, and, and). I think what you are doing is great, and we should be cognizant of where ALL of our food comes from, but I personally think the point of your challenge is to limit our personal usage and the emphasis should be put on our "dirty little habits" as Canadians -- things you've addressed like bathroom habits, washing dishes, etc..."throw-away" water usage. These are areas in which we can truly see change, which I think will have the greatest impact.
Another thing I wanted to bring up was to ask your thoughts on "lost" water...for example, boiling water and having showers creates steam. Maybe, when you do shower, you plan on bringing your plants into the room for a little rainforest kumbaya (which would be awesome), but what about all of the other times? I know when I boil water, I certainly don't watch the pot, and I usually lose a little bit by the time I get back to it. What do you think we can do to cut down on wasted water in this sense? I know that instead of boiling tea you could make a sun tea, which would take longer but cut down on the energy consumption and lost water caused by boiling...but it isn't the most practical method (not to mention, the tea is cold). I know it seems like a little thing, but maybe you can address the idea of "lost water" as your month progresses? I suppose measuring your water before you bring it to a boil can help eliminate any discrepancy. Another area might be bathing...yeah, so having a shower can potentially be less wasteful than a bath, but that water goes right down the drain. With a bath, you have a tub FULL of water, and you could potentially water your plants (assuming you use the appropriate body-cleaning products that wouldn't be toxic) and wash your clothes in one go, flushing the toilet, washing your dishes...plus raise the ambient temperature of your bathroom, which means your hydro/gas/oil bill won't be as high for that day.
Finally, in terms of the practicality of your challenge, I know you're probably getting some feedback from people who think it's a little extreme. Personally, I don't find it that crazy, but I do think that -- like everything -- measuring on a daily basis can set people up for failure. Imagine on laundry day, you may have used all your water allowance and can't even have a glass to drink! I think, if people are looking to implement this type of awareness in their lives, that viewing it from a weekly perspective is much healthier and will result in some positive changes. To view your water allowance as 175/l a week (still shockingly less than the average daily amount!) will make it easier to do laundry, have a weekly shower, and so on, and so forth. Any time we decide to limit a resource, I always find that the "bigger picture" is so much easier to work with - for money, buying some food in bulk just makes more "cents", for gas usage, doing a shop once a week or once every few weeks is better than a daily trip to the store, etc. It's also easier from a family perspective, because while I would let EVERYTHING mellow if I had my own private toilet (in fact, I do, when I am home alone), it becomes more difficult when you live with others.
I think it's great that you're highlighting ways "around" our normal habits, and I think that is where your challenge will truly succeed...you're going to have to get crafty when it comes to some things, and I suspect that a number of your changes will stick around after the 30 days are over!
(p.s. - your kitchen looks awful tidy in that video!)
Another note on the bathtub
Another note on the bathtub of water, thing...if you only "seriously" bathe weekly, then that's a full week's worth of water collected...and I'm just picturing your cat breaking into your bathroom to drink the water, as well!