Water Conservation and Recycling Where You Live

“Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink…”
-Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Well, if your a peach farmer in Georgia or living on a few cents a day in Africa you may not think that there is water anywhere.

This is a water planet, of course; Two-thirds of the surface of the planet is covered in water. The irony of climate change threatening rising seas is that as water threatens to swamp coastlines all over the world and completely swallow small island nations for many there will be less clean water to for drinking, cooking, and basic sanitation – especially in the third-world.

Encroaching drought, decertification, mismanagement, and climate change all portend a growing water crisis in the coming years.

For those of us that have all the water we need as close as the nearest tap in our homes, it’s easy to get into wasteful habits when it comes to water use. Like any habit – the very nature of habitual behavior – it can be a challenge to change your ways. Water conservation is well worth the challenge.

Some time ago I posted here on Hugg about a graywater recycling system my wife installed to use her bath water to water her garden. Jayne’s system consists of nothing more than a pump and length of hose out to the garden feeding a watering hose (the kind with little tiny holes running along the length of it) to water the flowers and plants. We live in a flat in mid-town San Francisco, but this is very simple and doable, even for apartment dwellers like us.

There are even easier things you can do to conserve water that don’t require even the simple run of hose. The principal ingredient is awareness.

For instance, I’ve noticed that I tend to waste water when washing my hands or brushing my teeth, so I’m starting to make the conscious effort to turn off the tap when I’m sudsing-up or brushing. Just thinking about it when I turn on the tap gets me to turn it off sooner. Over the course of a year it can save thousands of gallons of water.

And if you’re inclined to really going after it, there are commercial graywater recovery/recycling systems available to go the extra mile in water conservation.

Water conservation is an issue for all of us – whether we’re in Canada, California, or Calcutta; a big business, government leader, or individual citizen. Each one of us plays a role in conserving our most precious resource – it’s as simple as turning off the tap.

Sources and Further Reading:
TreeHugger.com – Greening Your Water
The People Speak.org – Water by the Numbers

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