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But can people actually do this?
We averaged 46 gallons per day per person on our last bill, from mid-September through mid-November, but there was still Saturday garden watering allowed for part of that time. Since then, we obviously stopped any outdoor watering, and have been saving all of our shower warmup water to flush the toilets. But we still need to wash clothes and dishes every week, in addition to showering and flushing the toilets, and cooking, and coffee ald all that. I'm expecting our next bill will show a reduction to about 32-35 gallons per person.
And to be honest, i'm not happy about using that little. I've got the low flush toilet and the milk container in the tank and i'm filling the tank by hand from the bucket. I'd like to be able to make a couple of batches of beer this year. I don't think we can get any lower in our house. How about you? Can you get down to 25 gallons per day?
I wonder if Mayor Meeker will be publishing his own usage figures any time soon?
The mayor is also asking residential customers to limit their water consumption to no more than 25 gallons per person per day. Meeker said the city will begin showing average daily water consumption in gallons on water bills so customers can track their usage.
We averaged 46 gallons per day per person on our last bill, from mid-September through mid-November, but there was still Saturday garden watering allowed for part of that time. Since then, we obviously stopped any outdoor watering, and have been saving all of our shower warmup water to flush the toilets. But we still need to wash clothes and dishes every week, in addition to showering and flushing the toilets, and cooking, and coffee ald all that. I'm expecting our next bill will show a reduction to about 32-35 gallons per person.
And to be honest, i'm not happy about using that little. I've got the low flush toilet and the milk container in the tank and i'm filling the tank by hand from the bucket. I'd like to be able to make a couple of batches of beer this year. I don't think we can get any lower in our house. How about you? Can you get down to 25 gallons per day?
I wonder if Mayor Meeker will be publishing his own usage figures any time soon?
Labels: drought
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9 Comments:
It can be done. Duck out on a shower but for every 2 or 3 days and wear your clothes more than 3 times before changing them and you can get it down pretty low. I've gone down to one shower every 3 days and an occasional spongebath if I feel sticky. I think we're down to about 25 gallons per day each at this time.
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skvidal, at 10:49 PM
Well, I just looked at my last bill and we were at 32 gallons per day per person without really trying all that hard (basically just following the outdoor water restrictions). That's not too shabby considering I do brew (once a every month or two) and the dog (who get bathed once/week) doesn't count as a person.
But then again, we live in a small house and don't have kids.
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Brian, at 11:03 PM
I'm taking 4 showers a week now, and stretching the clothes out already. it's pretty tough to ask the teenage daughter to live that way though.
And i do like to cook. And that means washing pots and pans. And using water to cook.
Wikipedia says per capita water usage in the UK is around 40 gpd (150 litres), and around 33 gpd (126 litres) in Germany. I'm guessing they're not including beer consumption in that.
In the US, consumption is around 70 gallons per day. I don't feel bad about our usage now, which is at European levels. Hopefully, i'll have enough rainwater in the new barrels to grow some vegetables this year.
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Barry, at 11:13 PM
We look at the water meter every day and are down to an average 30 gallons a day per person for the past month. We are home most of the day, so we're not off-loading use to the workplace. I suspect that if we had kids, the number would be higher.
Our washing machine, which consumes about 40 gallons a pop, is an obvious water-hog. We went to biodegradable cups last week and are going to some kind of paper plate this week. We try to wash pots and pans only once a day, and use the dishwasher for whatever we can. I have even found that I can take the occasional bath---I love 'em--IF I use all of the water to flush toilets subsequently.
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Anonymous, at 2:49 AM
I've been down to 25 gallons/day for a while now - starting in September. And I usually don't skip showers unless it's a week-end. I have low-flow toilets and shower-head, but other than that, I haven't changed my habits much except only doing one load/week of laundry and one or at the outside two dishwasher loads per week. And keeping my shower time to ~ 4 minutes. So I'm not sure why it's so hard, and I don't think my measurements have been off. On the other hand, I tend to travel a bit and I work at an office where my water usage there isn't contributing to my totals. And I do eat out fairly often.
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Anonymous, at 6:38 AM
My wife has pointed out to me that she was out of town for a significant portion of the relevant billing period. So please take my previous figure/boast with a boulder of salt...
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Brian, at 8:55 AM
25gpd could be done generally without hardcore lifestyle changes, but only with a combination of infrastructure change (conversion to front-loading washers, greywater recycling built into house plumbing systems, roof gutter catchment systems for landscaping, those little back-of-the-toilet sinks that Americans don't want to use) and serious re-education (levers to turn off showers in between rinses AND getting people to use them, reductions in laundering frequency, not flushing just for the liquid stuff, general consciousness of just how much water gets wasted daily).
I think Meeker's statement is not so much intended to reflect reality as it is a work of propaganda.
Also, those who talk about using paper plates in a drought - do you know how much water goes into manufacturing those plates? Admittedly, we hope that water is from somewhere else that isn't in a drought, but still! I'm not always so sure we are seeing these issues holistically enough. We can't use paper plates forever.
What would be more interesting would be to compare US or UK water usage to water use in a culture that doesn't use water for sewage transport. Or that has intensive water recycling, including "blackwater."
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katuah, at 11:12 AM
You don't really fill the tank with your bathwater do you? You just need to pour it fast into your bowl...for that fun and free flush. Wee!
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Anonymous, at 4:27 PM
Think back to the first time you picked up a bottle of Dr Bronner's Castille soap...think past staring , mesmerized, in the shower at his unending diatribe about cleanliness and godliness...
i suggest we re-visit his bottle and check out his water conservation ideas...most importantly the "sink bath" he outlines
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Anonymous, at 8:47 AM
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