Water Woes - Part 2 Continues - Conservation And Savings Room To Room

"It is not suffice to invent new machines, new regulations, new institutions. It is necessary to change and improve our understanding of the true purpose of what we are and what we do in this world".
Vaclav Havel, 2001

Part two continues with our room-to-room walk, looking for simple and and easy ways to conserve water and energy. In an earlier article today, I offered some simple suggestions to conserve water in any bathroom, without spending a dime. With these simple suggestions, any household can save thousands of gallons of water each year.

By changing our awareness of "how" we use water, we can begin to practice conserving this most precious resource while maintaining our lifestyles and recreations.

Kitchen areas- Basic and simple changes associated with work around a kitchen also offers an opportunity for water conservation and awareness. Remember, changing just one activity that reduces even two gallons of water a day, equals to over 600 gallons gallons of water savings a year.

In terms of survival, six hundred gallons would be capable of providing a family of four with clean water for drinking or cooking for over thirty days.

So what are some easy to do suggestions in the kitchen that do not require us to spend a nickle to accomplish some real savings?

Keep a pitcher of cold water in the refrigerator, and teach your family to reach for that instead of running the water in the tap until it is cold.

Use the garbage disposal as little as possible, instead teach your children about composting vegetable waste at home (perfect for the home vegetable garden).

Clean your fruit and vegetables in a pan or tub with a natural antibacterial, rather than rinsing with the tap water running.

After cleaning fruits and vegetables, use the water for watering household or potted plants.

By the way, if you have fish tanks, when cleaning and replacing the tank water, pour that nutrient-rich water on your potted plants.

Have one glass or reusable bottle for each member of the family to use for the whole day. Any reduction in dishes translates into a reduction of water use.

Do not thaw food by running water over it, not only does it waste water but it is not safe food handling, allow food to properly defrost in the refrigerator for food safety.

Always turn off the faucets completely and look for and repair leaks quickly.

Soak hard to clean pots and pans first, do not waste water by letting it run as you scrape and clean.

When refreshing your pets water, pour the old water into household and potted plants.

If ice cubes fall on floor, don't toss in the sink, place in the closest potted plant.

Use waterless antibacterial soap when possible instead of running water to wash hands.

Saving water around the kitchen is really about understanding how we use water on a daily basis and reducing that use. The biggest savings in the kitchen will come from a reduction in dishwasher use and unnecessarily running the tap water.

These suggestions are just but a few that will help to change the way we use water without spending any money. You pay for water either from your municipal company, or by the use of electricity when using your well pump, so any savings in water use translates to real money savings, no matter how you look at it. And that is a very good thing.

Yes there are other methods of saving money and water, replacing an older hot water tank with a new on-demand model is one method. But the purpose of this article is to show that any household, and more importantly, any individual, can make a real contribution to water conservation by just changing a few habits.

Tomorrow we will explore the laundry room, HVAC systems, pools, and outside areas, for more cost savings and water reduction suggestions, without spending money.

Brett