Tell me about conserving water.?

Question

Okay, that wasn't a question. I've been guilty of wasting water such as running the water when I'm brushing my teeth, not soaking dishes instead using running water, etc. The thing is (and I'm embarressed to admit this) that I don't really understand the whole issue. Is there a water shortage? Or is it the energy used to get and filter the water?

Answer 1

both - at least here in Florid- we're short of water, and, at my house, it's pumped out of the ground via electricity. . . not to mention, being wasteful in general is . . . wasteful!

Answer 2

ok the big picture,Globally Speaking.

Apart from the melting ice,We are loosing a lot of potable water ,by damaging its production  as well as over using  or wasting it

.

It goes without saying that gross overuse of water and waste leads to unnecessary energy spend on filtration,treatment  and pumping

PERMACULTURE ANSWER ON WATER HARVESTING AND CONSERVATION

WHY SHOULD WE HARVEST WATER

because there is so little that we can use

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25% of the planets surface is land

75%of the surface is water and it is rising

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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

relevant answers to similar questions

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climate change and water

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Answer 3

Off topic, that first answer was intense!

Second, it's a combination of yes, ultimately having a shortage of fresh water and using so much energy to clean it.   Everyones water goes to filtration plants where chemicals are used to help separate the dirt from the water and then cleaned to get the chemicals out.

Every person need to consume at least 1.5 liters of water a day to survive; this does come in forms of juice, Gatoraide, milk, and plain water.  There also needs to be irrigation systems so plants can grow and farm animals can be fed and hydrated.  

Then you have to consider how so much water is getting to places that need it, such as in the western and central US.  

Food for thought: every time you don't leave the water running while you brush your teeth you can save about a gallon of water, three gallons in a day, 21 gallons in a week, 84 in a month, 1008 in a whole year.  Just by you.

Great website to visit:

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/preser...

Answer 4

Water is a local resource. Places like Seattle are very wet and probably will never run out of water. Minnesota has  14,000 lakes, not likely to run out of water there either. Arizona has very little water. Here people need to conserve water rigorously. After all, water is an extremely important natural resource. We need clean water for cooking and drinking and for bathing. We can use dirtier water for toilet flushing and gardening, and the same with washing cars. The alternative is to not wash cars at all, but to coat them with a dirt and moisture repellent surface  Paint is water repellent, but not dirt repellent. Nano technology is developing new products in this area.

So, it depends upon where you live how critical this is. Here in Boston we normally have 43 inches of rain and 46 inches of snow. In times of prolonged droughts though, which happen every so often, communities have to conserve water