I recently received the latest issue of Good magazine, and it happened to be entirely about water – the state of our water supply, how to use less water, how much water goes into producing the food you eat, etc.
One article, called “This is a turn off” states that the average American uses more than 151 gallons of water per day. UNICEF announced that humans need about 5 gallons of clean water a day to survive. The writers of the article challenge us all to reduce our daily water usage to 75 gallons. They go on to give suggestions on how to accomplish this, giving extreme examples and then Average Joe examples.
One suggestion that I thought was practical (and that claims to save up to 70 gallons of water per day per household) is a portable sink to help you reuse your kitchen sink water. You place it in the sink and it catches all water that would otherwise go down the drain when you’re washing your hands, washing dishes, etc. The tub has handles and a drain, so once it starts to get full, you can simple take it outside and use the recycled water for your plants. I just got mine in the mail today from GreenDepot.com. At $22, if it really saves that much water, it was well worth it.
Time will tell, and I’m interested to see the results, but it seems like a cheap and easy way to recycle your water.
Also, if you’re interested in lowering your water use impact in general, you should know that it takes 1500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. A hamburger takes 634 gallons, and a pound of chicken takes 287 gallons. Think about the impact of what you eat as there is a lot of water savings to be had by adjusting your diet.
Our air conditioner (older; but we do not have the funds to replace at this time)empties its condensate into a bucket in our laundry room. We water plants and wash our laundry with it.
Wow! It must perspire a lot. Mine has a pipe that empties outside and barely drips onto a tree planted there. That is great that you reuse the water!