How can I conserve house hold water?

Question

How can I conserve house hold water?

Answer 1

What is there in your house I cannot precisely tell but here are a few which I assume every household should have:

1) Don't have to flush (pull/press the lever)  all the way

     you pee;

2) Don't have to flush all the way if you found the waste have

     already gone down the commode;

3) Recycle the washing machine water,  the final rinse water

      can be stored and used  again for fresh load;

4)  When washing dishes, use warm water to soak the greasy

      dishes and rinse in container instead of washing in the  

      sink under running water;

5) Don't wash your cars,  use the the coin operated

     washing facility in your locality;

6)  Larger loads, like linen should not be washed at home

      instead use the laundry shops/coin operated machines;

7)  If you have lawn and garden, use only the required

     quantity of water; and finally

8)   Use only the required amount of water to take shower.

They may be other areas you can think and save water

in your own home.

Answer 2

We should not only conserve water ,we should also collect it when it rains ,make your lawn and garden receptive to absorb water ,and not let it run off onto the street.

And cars can be washed with rain water ,it does not have to be drinking water.

Here is the whole story on the best way to conserve and harvest water and why

The summary for the garden is mulching and lowering the flower beds

having the paths high so that they form basins that absorb the water .

read on

PERMACULTURE ANSWER ON WATER HARVESTING AND CONSERVATION

WHY SHOULD WE HARVEST WATER

because there is so little that we can use

------------------------------...

25% of the planets surface is land

75%of the surface is water and it is rising

------------------------------...

97%of the Earths water is salt

fresh water is only 3% of all the Earths water

most of it is beyond out reach

now much ice is melting and running into the seas fresh water lost for ever.

STORAGE or Location of % of the fresh water

ice and glaziers 74%

groundwater 800 meters + 13.5 %

groundwater less than 800meters 11.o%

Lakes 0.3%

soils 0.006%

Atmospheric in circulation 0.0035%

rivers 0.03%

frozen land or permafrost is not included and represent an unavailable storage of 40%

so of the 3% about 11.6 ,is easily available to us ,in rivers, lakes and ground water surface aquifers,more and more of this is becoming contaminated

overpopulation of an extra 70 million people a year (increasing all the time )and expanding agriculture ,which uses 70% of available potable water supplies ,has brought the good(sweet) water supplies to critical levels ,some countries have been in trouble already quite a while .

Now climate change and desertification, because of irresponsible agriculture ,overgrazing and deforestation is damaging world fresh water production .

It is a good reason for concern and if we do not rectify matters by changing agricultural methods ,reforest ,stop deforestation,become more economic with water use ,stop producing more people ,stop wasting and contaminating water, we will be in serious trouble all round

and could end up looking like Mars

And these are some of the things we can do

tp conserve water use

EFFICIENT WATER USE

IN THE HOUSE

one can connect the sink straight to the toilet cistern and so use the water twice ,first to have a shave and then to flush the toilet

also if you bend the ball valve you can regulate the level of the cistern

Always have your Grey water and Black water separate,so that the sink and shower water goes directly into the garden saving on irrigation and at the same time ,making the sewage smaller and easier to deal with ,

This also goes and irrigates the garden but via a cistern of two compartments and a French drain ,on which you plant trees,

ON THE LAND

Economic systems of irrigation, like drip irrigation

and water harvesting design, using a lot of stone walls ,that condense water in the night

and planting leafy plants ,for the same purpose,

Building wind breaks ,to counter act the drying effects of the wind and farm towards Aggro forrestal ,using as many trees as possible to limit evaporation .

Using shade nets before we have tree cover

and use MULCH

By cutting down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall.

They will cover the ground add even more organic matter on top,(you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry),

And when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most beneficial way(for the quality of you soil)to prepare the land for planting.

To prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).

Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil

The humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the development of worms(there exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together within the mulch produce more topsoil.

The mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surface if on unprotected land.

Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and,wind erosion.

WATER HARVESTING

As far as catching rain is concerned ,we do this all the time ,and have done so already since Babylonian times,and is a part of the more advanced Agriculture,that existed with the Egyptians,,Moors, Arabs and probably many more

Central ,and South American indigenous people had this idea coupled to their pyramids ,catching the water of the slopes and leading it into tanks or onto the fields .

And many others ,today we call this WATER HARVESTING.

Only Modern Man is totally extravagant with the rain water given ,and complains of the wetness ,letting it run off into the rivers lost forever ,With out even attempting to hold on to it .

And then later complains of not having water ,when times are dryer

In Permaculture the rule is to harvest water to the point of Zero runoff.

This means that all of the rain that falls on an area is absorbed by the terrain and not a drop leaves it.

By building dams,ponds or Swales, with inter connecting ditches,

If there are enough of these ;the places ,where before ,the rain water ran over the ground into the rivers and on to the sea ,in a matter of hours or days.

It now runs into absorbent dams or Swales and saturates the ground and eventually reaches subterranean water deposits ,taking many months to do so.

Or it fills up ponds that can be used for Aquaculture.

And so a convex situation that repels water is transformed in a concave ,absorbent one and turning the area in to a sponge.

In Spain and Portugal ,which still display many examples of the conquering Moorish influence one can find many remnants of Water harvesting,such as Aqueducts and tanks underneath the patios ,which collect the rain water from the roofs ,to be used in dryer times.

In Arabia ,on a large scale ,land has been shaped to catch and lead,rain water into sandy areas or to agricultural lands.sand is almost as good as dams because it absorbs water and holds it.

Here in Mexico we collect the rainwater in our school for sustainable agriculture,but it is too near Acapulco to trust the rain water for drinking ,and this holds true for most places ,so we use it for irrigation.

the rain water from a gutter runs via a filter into a tank.

In Europe in my parents house ,when i was young ,we had a rain barrel,where the water from the gutter ended up .

this was usual in those days ,but i have seen few in modern times.

We can use this action also in other ways ,

for example the roof water via a ditch can run trough the chicken house ,cleaning it and end up fertilizing the vegetable plot(this is called the creation of energy flow.

this water used to be Ok in times gone by before Air pollution ,

Today i would recommend it only for washing and irrigation

for more information on Water Harvesting

read The Permaculture designers manual by Bill Mollison,which cost about 40 dollars.

and is the best all round book you can get,on Environmental design,.(tagiari publishing, [e-mail])

Answer 3

google it - there are lots of ways - water restrictor in shower and faucets - water bottle in toilet tank (less water used per flush)

Answer 4

Everyone else here as brought up valid ways to conserve water. One other way to conserve water is to reuse the water. Toliets use the same water that you drink from the tap which is a waste. Instead of using tap water, a solution to this waste of approx 6L of water is rig up all your sinks, basins and showers to drain into a holding tank in your basement(if you have one). Have this used water filtered to remove solids but then you can use this gray water in your toliets instead of tapwater and this will conserve some of your water and allow you to reuse it before sending it away for good.

hope that helps

Answer 5

put a brick in the water tank above your toilet, fill a cup when brushing your teeth, and never buy bottled water..........

Answer 6

Take shorter showers and put a milk jug full of water in your toilet tank (bricks might corrode the toilet).  Also I follow the "If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down" rule.

Answer 7

-water your lawn at night or the evening, that way the sun will not absorb the water during the day..,

-pick a day out of the week when u will not shower (I don't shower on fridays)

-don't use water u don't need

Answer 8

Is your bill too high?  Or are you running out?

Answer 9

put a brick in the toilet tanks

wash only full dishwasher/washer loads

turn the shower off during the time you shampoo and soap

turn the water off when you brush your teeth

Answer 10

Hate to tell ya bro but to make plants Drought tolerant  in the lawn and garden it actually takes more water to do so

Answer 11

Stop showering everyday.  When you poo poo...let it sit until the next poo poo...then flush once.

Answer 12

adjust float level in your toilets or put bricks in the resivoir if you don't no how. don't leave sink running while brushing your teeth and turn off shower while lathering.

Answer 13

use paper plates

Answer 14

Don't flush every time you pee.

Don't take long showers.

Don't use the dishwasher until it is full.

Don't water the lawn - let nature grow whatever is easiest to grow there.

Don't "run the water" until it gets to the temperature you need.  Trap it in a bucket and use it later.

Answer 15

some of the answers seem down right unsanitary.  my roommate in college used to let "yellow" sit around, and it stank the house.

there are few things that you can change which have minimal impact though.  

- there are shower heads that has less flow but feels just the same.  i just changed my shower head that uses standard 2.5gpm to the one that only use 1.6gpm, and it feels the same.

- there are new toilets that let you chose or automatically chose low flow for #1 and high flow for #2

- not sure if this save water, but tankless waterheater supposedly deliever hot water faster (which hopefully would translate to less running the water until it gets hot)

there are more expensive ways such as redoing the plumbing in the house to use rain water and sink water to be reused to flushing toiler (and using rain water to water the lawn).  but i imagine it's pretty expensive unless you build your own house and have these in from the start.

Answer 16

Use the phrase "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." (In terms of the toilet, of course).

Take a shower less often - I tend to take a shower once every other day, or every two days. Most of the time, I share my shower with my house mate and fiance.

Wash clothes only as needed - make sure it's full.

Run the dishwasher only as needed - make sure it's full, too.

STOP watering your lawn! (That should probably be first)

If you're looking to just help out with the drought, then buy bottled water. Ignore this if you're just trying to save money.

Answer 17

Stack your dishes.Keep water in your basin plugged in.Don't take a bath every day.

Answer 18

Put a bucket in the shower to catch the water before it gets hot-use that water to water plants, etc.

This water thing hurts....if we all do our part all should be alright...but who knows if that'll happen.

Answer 19

replace faucets that drip.

Answer 20

get filtered hoses...buy energy flushes..and don't keep water running unnecessarily

Answer 21

Very simple. Use only what you need.

Answer 22

Don't leave the tap running while brushing your teeth and/or washing dishes.  Get a more water saving toilet and washing machine.  Limit the amount of time you spend in the shower.  Take showers instead of baths.  Only do large loads of laundry (instead of several small ones).  Only water your lawn 2 days or less per week.  That's all I can think of right now...