Water is pretty important. And there’s only a finite amount of it. So it seems like we should use only what we need.
This is the theme of the sixth day of the No Impact Experiment.
Step 1 asks me to assess my current water habits. Well, I use water to flush the toilet, wash my hands, drink, shower, make oatmeal, wash the dishes, brush teeth, and wash my face. I’m also asked to go calculate my water footprint, but I have no idea how many kilos of various foods I eat per week, so I’m skipping that part. However, it gets me thinking that there is a lot of hidden “water costs.” Like beef, for example. It takes a lot of water to produce one pound of beef. That’s not something you think about when ordering a hamburger.
Step 2 says to create a list of water I will consume today. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to do that, but it’s pretty much what I listed above.
Step 3: Begin! I had a great idea that I was going to fill up our Brita water filter pitcher with the cold water that initially comes out of the bathtub faucet. However, between caring for a sick child and trying to get ready for a road trip, it slipped my mind. I did however remember to turn off the water while soaping up and brushing my teeth. It’s all about being mindful.
Once we move to our simple dream house, I plan to install low-flow shower heads and dual flush toilets. We’ll also get an energy-efficient dishwasher. I’ve heard that’s more efficient than washing dishes by hand (which we do now).
Now, if we could just figure out a way to get clean water to all our brothers and sisters around the world…
This reminds me of my childhood – at my dad’s house, we took baths with ~2 inches of water in the tub.
And in later years, my step-mom challenged the 3 of us kids to take the shortest shower. (We used our stop watches.)
That’s awesome! (OK, maybe not the 2 inches of water, but the stop watch is classic…)