What are you doing to become water efficient?

[sewfree55]

Agreed. I’ve started an experiment to see how much water I can collect from the dogs bowls when we dump and rinse. Same for the chicken water.

So do I. I water plants with it. We put gutters on the 16' sides of the chicken coop & have a rain barrel on the 2 ends. (All we need is rain!) Mulch around plants really helps conserve water, too. I'm really lucky to have a well. I keep 2 mineral tubs filled--one by my garden & one on the patio. I dip water out with a plastic coffee can & water plants individually. I grew up in the desert southwest, so I guess I've always been water conscious.

 

[igorsMistress]

So do I. I water plants with it. We put gutters on the 16' sides of the chicken coop & have a rain barrel on the 2 ends. (All we need is rain!) Mulch around plants really helps conserve water, too. I'm really lucky to have a well. I keep 2 mineral tubs filled--one by my garden & one on the patio. I dip water out with a plastic coffee can & water plants individually. I grew up in the desert southwest, so I guess I've always been water conscious.

I always have been as well but I’m trying to dial it down some more. Didn’t used to reuse the dog water or use water from the veggies I cook etc.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

This is a topic I am borderline obsessed about, and the broader picture is that most of our water comes from the Colorado River and most of it goes to agriculture (eg, not to the homes of people like you and I). So like many things, there is only so much we can do as individuals.

I have had Brad's books for years and what I can tell you from practical experience is that all of that information is good and important, but it just rains so infrequently. We simply must concentrate our efforts on using less of the imported water OR using it twice.

If you use native plants for landscaping then yes, rainwater can sustain that. And that's a very worthy goal especially if stormwater drains away from your property. You definitely want everything that falls from the sky to sink into your land and be used.

Perhaps a good place to start is to simply read our water bills and understand what we're using currently, and how we can lower it. The old "what gets measured gets managed" thing. I think the average person uses about 100 gallons per day.

So as not to be exhausting here are 3 changes I made in my life to improve:

• "Laundry to landscape" piping. My washing machine water now goes to a shallow basin in the yard around some trees, to get used a second time.
• Showers instead of baths. And I take short showers and will turn the water off mid shower to lather or give hair products time. (Extra points for outdoor showers near a tree)
• Hose timers on every hose. I've forgotten a hose too many times and that wastes a lot of water each time. Leaks and accidents are the worst.

There is another thing we could all do that nobody really talks about, which is use less electricity. I think my APS electricity comes from Palo Verde Nuclear plant which ... now I am trying to find the numbers and the website I saw last is eluding me. It was something like 750 gallons per 1,000 kwh that was used to create the electricity.

A typical Phoenix single family home can easily use several thousand kwh in a summer month with the A/C running. The reason that cities don't talk about this is, I think, because if you save electricity and therefore water, it didn't come from your city's water budget. Therefore they don't get to pat their own selves on the back. But the point stands, less electricity = less water used.

 

[arizona_chicken_noob]

There is another thing that could really impact us but will be difficult. I learned this one from Brad.

We are making treaties with other states like Colorado, and we are putting in place hundreds of miles of canals and infrastructure to get that water here. We're treating the water and turning it into wonderfully safe drinking water, and piping it through homes all across our cities and towns, and then we're pooping in it.

Yes, if we could get over water-based sanitation and switch to something like composting toilets, that could move the needle.

Urine is free fertilizer with a great NPK ratio if you are able to make use of it. But if we could just culturally shift to a solution that doesn't use clean safe drinking water to flush, that could be big.

 

[igorsMistress]

This is a topic I am borderline obsessed about, and the broader picture is that most of our water comes from the Colorado River and most of it goes to agriculture (eg, not to the homes of people like you and I). So like many things, there is only so much we can do as individuals.

I have had Brad's books for years and what I can tell you from practical experience is that all of that information is good and important, but it just rains so infrequently. We simply must concentrate our efforts on using less of the imported water OR using it twice.

If you use native plants for landscaping then yes, rainwater can sustain that. And that's a very worthy goal especially if stormwater drains away from your property. You definitely want everything that falls from the sky to sink into your land and be used.

Perhaps a good place to start is to simply read our water bills and understand what we're using currently, and how we can lower it. The old "what gets measured gets managed" thing. I think the average person uses about 100 gallons per day.

So as not to be exhausting here are 3 changes I made in my life to improve:

• "Laundry to landscape" piping. My washing machine water now goes to a shallow basin in the yard around some trees, to get used a second time.
• Showers instead of baths. And I take short showers and will turn the water off mid shower to lather or give hair products time. (Extra points for outdoor showers near a tree)
• Hose timers on every hose. I've forgotten a hose too many times and that wastes a lot of water each time. Leaks and accidents are the worst.

There is another thing we could all do that nobody really talks about, which is use less electricity. I think my APS electricity comes from Palo Verde Nuclear plant which ... now I am trying to find the numbers and the website I saw last is eluding me. It was something like 750 gallons per 1,000 kwh that was used to create the electricity.

A typical Phoenix single family home can easily use several thousand kwh in a summer month with the A/C running. The reason that cities don't talk about this is, I think, because if you save electricity and therefore water, it didn't come from your city's water budget. Therefore they don't get to pat their own selves on the back. But the point stands, less electricity = less water used.

All very good points! I have been reading about where our water comes from and it depends on where you live. I don’t remember the cut off areas but I believe our water is a mixture from various sources. It depends on where you are in the valley.

 

[Sally PB]

Urine is free fertilizer with a great NPK ratio if you are able to make use of it.

I often pee in my garden when I'm working there and have to go and don't want to walk back to the house.

 

[igorsMistress]

I often pee in my garden when I'm working there and have to go and don't want to walk back to the house.

It adds nitrogen so good job
I do too.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Reading this thread with a kind of curious interest - water supply has never been a problem where I live (comes from the Missouri and Platte Rivers), although there is some interest in conservation starting to catch on. We do have efficient toilets and pee outside whenever possible (more for varmint deterrent than conservation, I'll admit). Hubs showers daily, but it's 5 min or less and with a water-conserving shower head. I bathe, but only about once a week - I do daily sponge baths instead. I use an HE washer and do only big loads, so washing less often. We are on septic with a lagoon, so it all goes back to the environment anyway.

Most of our water use goes to the livestock and garden. We don't have a pond anymore, so the cattle drink from water troughs that I keep full with a hose. No conserving, there - nor any waste, either. I suppose we could collect rainwater and pipe it to the troughs, but honestly - there's just not much of a need in this region and it had not occurred to us. I drag a garden hose around the garden about twice a week when there's no rain. We have two spring-fed streams on either side of our property that run year-round. They become raging rivers after a rainstorm.

I suppose you could say that lack of water in our area isn't a problem - but abundance of water at times, and flooding, IS. If I could suck the humidity from the air and send it to the desert southwest, I WOULD.

 

[igorsMistress]

Reading this thread with a kind of curious interest - water supply has never been a problem where I live (comes from the Missouri and Platte Rivers), although there is some interest in conservation starting to catch on. We do have efficient toilets and pee outside whenever possible (more for varmint deterrent than conservation, I'll admit). Hubs showers daily, but it's 5 min or less and with a water-conserving shower head. I bathe, but only about once a week - I do daily sponge baths instead. I use an HE washer and do only big loads, so washing less often. We are on septic with a lagoon, so it all goes back to the environment anyway.

Most of our water use goes to the livestock and garden. We don't have a pond anymore, so the cattle drink from water troughs that I keep full with a hose. No conserving, there - nor any waste, either. I suppose we could collect rainwater and pipe it to the troughs, but honestly - there's just not much of a need in this region and it had not occurred to us. I drag a garden hose around the garden about twice a week when there's no rain. We have two spring-fed streams on either side of our property that run year-round. They become raging rivers after a rainstorm.

I suppose you could say that lack of water in our area isn't a problem - but abundance of water at times, and flooding, IS. If I could suck the humidity from the air and send it to the desert southwest, I WOULD.

We would sure appreciate it!

I feel like water is a finite resource regardless of our location. There are many aquifers in the Midwest that are nearly tapped out. This will put more strain on rivers and lakes. There are companies like Nestle using small municipal water resources to bottle and sell what many consider to be two water to people half way around the world as spring water, while the towns are happily letting the company do this because it brings jobs and economic growth.

 

[Wolfie2]

I like mine from Lowes also. I haven’t buried mine under mulch yet but that’s the plan after planting corn and beans this month.

I purchased two ring style soakers from Amazon which I’m giving a try this weekend.

I'm just hopin buryin them under the mulch will help keep the sun deterioration to a minimum. Also hopin the armadillos cooperate in this endeavor!