apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

take more baths.

oh, and if you can, wash your dishes by hand. dishwashers use a ton of water.

Keep a bucket near the shower or tub (one of those big galvanized ones) and use it to collect the cold water that comes out of your faucet before it gets warm. Use it for watering your plants.

Use water waste from cooking, such as water for cooking pasta or water used to rinse rice, to water your plants as well.

Water plants before 10 am and after 2pm, the hottest parts of the day.

Contrary to myth, dishwashers are more water efficient than washing by hand.

"When washing dishes by hand, instead of running water to rinse dishes, fill the kitchen sink and dip dishes in water to rinse. Automatic dishwashers are more efficient than hand washing dishes. Most dishwashers do not require pre-rinsing dishes by hand. Scrape solid food waste off dishes preferably into a composting container, and wash full loads." http://www.ebmud.com/conserving_&_recycling/water_smart_tips/default.htm#House_

Other things I do that help reduce water waste:

Use make-up remover cloths before I wash my face with running water (arguably a trade off for the carbon footprint).

Water the garden at night during when evaporation is lowest, *and* I water in two 30 minute cycles spaced an hour apart for the least run-off (obviously this is an auto system -- I don't get up at 3:00 am to water the plants)

run full washing machine loads -- 1 large load uses less water than 2 medium loads

Visit a car wash that reclaims and reuse grey water (in Utah, salt ruins undercarriages and paint, so intermittent washing is needed)

Drink more wine. :-)

I think that the debate about machine vs hand washing for dishes is impossible to resolve. It completely depends on your technique, how efficiently you are able to pack the dishwasher, what dishwasher you have, the fact that you can't save and reuse the rinse water from the dishwasher, etc.

We wash dishes by hand using very, very little water:

1. Fill up a large bowl or half-sink (if your sink is a double sink) with warm water and a small amount of natural dish soap.
2. Use a sponge, dipping in to the bowl of sudsy water, to remove the coarse food gunk from the dishes, scraping it into the sink (not the water bowl!) This technique keeps your water clean and allows you to use less of it.
3. Now that your dish is mostly clean, use the clean water to completely clean it.
4. Rinse the dish over the bowl of clean water to collect the rinse water for use cleaning the next dish.
5. When you're done, use the water that's left in the bowl to water your plants.

Actually, watering your garden at night is bad for the plants and can cause rot. Xeriscaping and planning your garden intelligently (hint: growing roses in the desert is very water-intensive and doomed to failure without expensive heroic efforts) is a better way to go.

I am having deja vu from the last time this happened (I think I was in high school). The mantra from then (concerning toilets) was "If it's yellow, let it mellow". A little gross, but effective.

OK, why are we waiting instead of starting now? are we expecting more rain/snow?

Turn off the shower while you're soaping up!