Conserving water now may make a big difference later.
The normally dry southwestern portion of the United States has only one major river feeding it – the 1,450-mile Colorado River – so the last thing this fast-growing region of the country wants is for that river to dry up. Unfortunately, that’s exactly what’s happening.
A drought that is now in its 14th year – longer than any other drought it has experienced in the past 1,250 years – is causing major concerns for the people and industries that need water from the once mighty flowing river. In fact, in some places this river is little more than a brown, murky trickle, and reservoirs are sinking to about one-half of their capacities.
The nation’s largest reservoir, Lake Mead, is being negatively affected by this drought, and there are concerns that people all the way from Las Vegas to Los Angeles, plus millions of acres of farmland, will soon have less water than needed. And if the water level of Lake Powell drops much more, it could shut down generators that supply enough electricity to power 350,000 homes.
If the drought continues – and predictions are that it will – one of the ways to fight the water shortage is conservation. Southern California’s Metropolitan Water District has a goal of reducing water consumption by 20 percent per person from 2010 to 2020. It is recycling sewage effluent, giving away high-efficiency water nozzles and subsidizing items such as artificial turf and zero-water urinals.
Water officials in southern Nevada are treating and returning to Lake Mead almost all of the water used indoors by the 40 million tourists who visit Las Vegas each year, including from dishwashers, toilets and bathtubs.
Even if there is no drought or water shortage in your area, you can still do your part to conserve water. Here are five simple ways to do it:
• Install low-flow showerheads and faucets or faucet aerators.
• Only wash full loads – in the dishwasher and the washing machine.
• Water your garden and lawn after the sun goes down so that it will soak in better before evaporating.
• Take shorter showers.
• Catch cold water that comes out of the faucet while you’re waiting for hot water and use it to water plants or pour into the toilet reservoir after flushing.
Are there water shortages where you live, and if so, have government officials and people voiced concerns? What kind of water conservation efforts are being made in your area?
Will this work for ocean water?
Water will be new oil. If you think a gas shortage is bad, think no water. Have you noticed the more liberal and the more we kick God out of our country, the more trouble we have. We need new leadership, or just leadership. I agree we must conserve water but, we need to get the EPA under control. much of our fresh water is wasted and flows into the ocean, sometimes as in Cal. to save a small fish. People come first. Our families are more important than any fish. We all have to work together.
Time to stop living like there’s no tomorrow.
Can you imagine how much water would be saved if only people would fix their LEAKS? I notice them in my travels every day: a dripping hose bib, a sprinkler oozing water when it is OFF, etc.
I’ve been a chronic water conserver since the CA drought during the 1970s. All my water gets reused. Each sink has a basin in it to catch water. Reasonably clear rinse water, or from the shower, is used to water the plants. Soapy water, or water with paint, bleach, etc., gets used to flush the toilet. My truck gets washed WHEN IT RAINS. I realize that whatever I do is a drop in the bucket (pun intended) compared with the vast amount of water waste statewide but… “I may be only one, but I am one…” and “If not I, then who?”
Covering swimming pools when not in use prevents a lot of water loss by evaporation. During the 70s, my family had a pool and we covered it, and also got a pump so the pool water could be used in case of a fire. In the West, where periodic droughts are a fact of life, it’s amazing to see so much landscaping that requires a lot of regular water to look nice, as well as plants with high water needs mixed in with less thirsty plants, so that the WHOLE AREA must be watered regularly. Even grouping plants according to irrigation needs would save a lot of water.
If you’re in CA, consider taking the Master Gardener program through your county’s Cooperative Extension. They give excellent info and tips on your local area’s water use issues, as well as many other garden-related subjects.
We have lived in the Colorado mtns. for 47 yrs. We had a beautiful green front yard. I refused to water it from my well. You can imagine what it looks like now. I catch the cold water in a bucket before it turns hot for my shower, when it’s full that water goes in the washing machine. Ever get up in the morning, turn on a faucet and nothing comes out? That’s happened several times in 47 yrs. You then start to look for a leak. Happened this year Christmas morning. One of the toilets was the culprit. I have replaced it. Every one should have to live on a well such as ours, you’d realize just how PRECIOUS this stuff is.
Its funny how people only notice a problem only when they can’t have it, it disappears for ever. or when their backs are up against the wall and it will cost them more than what they have.
I have been conserving water where I live in Southern California for over 10 years. Why? Because I realized that water is a precious resource that is disappearing from our country. If you fine folks take the time to look around you and your community and State you will realize that I am speaking the truth. What was once an unlimited resource has now become a precious resource that can no loner be taken for granted. Powers to be have realized this and have set themselves up to be the ones in control of your water. They will have you pay through the nose for what was considered a natural resource for one and all. By letting the rivers and streams flow we the people were reassured that our water source will always be available to one and all.
It is sad to bring you people back to reality, but, the water is not free for your use. There is money to be made at your expense and they are out to grab all that they can.
Here in Southern California I saved water. My front yard went brown, then it became a dirt patch until the winter months when it would rain and the weeds would pop up. Well, for the last 5 years it didn’t even rain enough to give the weeds a chance to grow.
What really frosted my glass is that while I was conserving there were buttheads in Southern California didn’t think twice about using excess water to keep their yards
from turning brown or to become a dirt patch like mine. They knew that there was a drought and they didn’t care so long as their property was nice and green. Here is the kicker, the people telling everyone that we need to conserve our water are the very people using the water to keep their yards green; like the Governor, Mayor and councilmen and women of the City of Los Angles.
There is a drought that is throughout this country. We as citizens must do what we can to conserve any and all fresh water. When a State experience a flood then there should be a way to capture this excess water and send it to the States that really need it. There are Midwest states that can use this excess water to help them grow their produce. I know that California sure can use the excess water for the farms and ranches; not to mention for drinking as well. Fresh water is not be wasted, it can not be controlled by the few for a price either. Conserving water, is everyone’s responsibility and it is high time we realize this and start doing something about it. Fresh water is a natural resource that can no longer be exploited nor taken for granted. We must get off our butts and do something about it starting 10 years ago.
just read this article on yahoo you got be kidding
There are several reasons rain barrels are illegal (for the most part) in Colorado. The main issue is water rights. Did you know that, as a homeowner, you don’t have the right to use water run off from your roof unless there is a well on your property? There are several other reasons regulators are against rain barrel usage in Colorado. Rain barrel advocates have some strong arguments against legislator logic. Presented here are the arguments for and against making rain barrels legal for every homeowner in Colorado.
Water rights
Water rights are the main issue cited for making rain barrels illegal in Colorado. Colorado has some very stringent water rights rules. By catching and saving rain water, it’s felt that homeowners are inadvertently stealing the water from it’s rightful owners. That is to say, the owners of reservoirs and streams that the water would have naturally migrated to. An exception is made for homes where there are wells installed. In that case, the water rights would belong to the homeowner.
I catch water in a small Dixie cup. Start and finish brushing by dipping the brush as need and then rinse my mouth with same. Also believe this system should be taught to kids.
I have too much water here, but I still don’t see any harm in conserving. One of the dumbest things we do in this country is to use perfectly good, drinkable water to flush toilets. I am all for reusing greywater, but as far as I know, it goes against most building codes.
Each air conditioner takes 5 to 8 gallons of water out of the air each day. This is just the home ones, no report on the amount that the units on hotels or large businesses take out to the air.
Lets multiply that by 100,000 plus for the homes that run the air conditioning and wonder why their yards are so dry.
Flush the toilet after every second use when urinating. (It helps if you have a bathroom for each member in the household.)
As for showers, get wet, turn off the water, lather up & scrub, then turn the water back on again to rinse.
Toothbrushing – do the same. Wet the toothbrush, turn off the water, put the toothpaste on the brush and brush your teeth, then turn the water on to quickly rinse the toothbrush and your mouth.
If you cook things like whole potatoes, cool the water and use it for watering plants and veggies (or dump it into your compost bin).
I have two 400-gal. cisterns (connected) and a 300-gal. cistern for catching rain water. I use a “first flush” system on them. But when their levels get to about half, I have almost no pressure for watering the raised bed veggie garden (or my citrus trees on the opposite side of the yard with the 300-gal. cistern). I need to install some pumps that will run off the two solar generators I bought a couple years ago. In the meantime, I also have two 75-gal. rain barrels that I can transfer rain water from.
Our dishwasher has been repurposed – it’s now storing things like mixing bowls, the Lodge cast iron grill, and pie plates. We hand wash our dishes. We never fill up the sink – use just an inch or so of water. Lather up/wash the dishes and place them into the second sink. Then rinse them all quickly and into the dish drainer. We NEVER leave the water just running and running and running (like some folks do) while washing dishes. (My M-I-L used to do that and it drove me crazy! LOL I tried to tell her she was wasting water. Her comment: “Oh, we don’t have to pay for it!” {it was Chicago water – back in the ’70’s})
All these are good tips. But as in the film ‘Isaiah 9:10’, we must turn back to God for Him to continue the blessings on our land as originally gained by our forefathers.
You seem to be the only one of these posts that actually “gets it”. God would be quick to listen to our prayers and heal our land(actually He owns it all) if we would repent and turn from our wicked ways(2Chr. 7:14). It’s going to be impossible to conserve something that, if brought to it’s ultimate conclusion, may no longer exist. I wonder what the atheists’ “solution” will be then, since “only the fool believes in his heart there is no God”(PS. 14:1).
We forget sometimes that Southern California is an artificially sustained oasis, currently occupied by a population more than 1,000 times what it could naturally support. And unfortunately a huge portion of our food supply is now dependent on that system. These are all great tips! I live in a floodplain that receives way too much water in the winter, & almost none in the summer. I learned early in my residency that there are more important things than a freshly washed car, & much of my landscaping has been determined by whether or not it can survive without help. If something needs watering after it is established, it goes. I have my garden in raised beds to minimize water usage & use lots of compost. I also eliminated almost all of the lawn. I ‘ve known people who collect the surplus using an above ground swimming pool during the winter, & many more who collect it in barrels. I do not do full loads of laundry, as a full load could mean that I won’t get a shower. Living with a well makes you very aware! Urbanites take that water for granted, I believe.
One thing that would help enormously would be for grey-water systems not only to legalized, but encouraged or even mandatory. Many locales forbid their use entirely. If all the regulations were loosened up, I would bet that people could come up with all kinds of ingenious solutions.
Those are good tips for saving water; here is another one (but there is a caveat)…collecting water from the rain into buckets…the caveat is to protect from mosquitoes breeding in it…cover it as soon as the rain dissipates or stops, wait a couple of days (assuming no more rain is in the forecast ) to use on plants, lawn, etc. Otherwise, you can have nice soft water for hand-washing underwear, socks, etc. Then you take that waste-water for flushing. The Caveat: make sure you move quickly because the code enforcement people frown on this, and realtors will rat you out.
My rain barrels are just covered with door screening, wired tight around the edges – water gets in, mosquitoes do not.