You know, I took a drastic step toward conservation without making a pledge contingent on the behavior of others (e.g., five others who do the same thing) -- and it is really easy. A few months after we moved into our new house, I received a quarterly water bill of nearly $600. (That's not a typo -- $600.) It turns out that one continuosly leaking toilet and one intermittently leaking toile can result in the use of 63,000(!) gallons of water. I was so utterly stunned by the volume of waste, that after fixing the toilets and generally carefully monitoring water use (I discourage the kids from playing with the hose outside, for example), I switched from showers to India-style bathing -- from a bucket. I instantly reduced the largest contributor to our house's water waste -- the morning share that I've always used to wake up, which uses 5 gal. per minute. I now bathe from a 6 gal. bucket. Our water usage is down to about 5,000 gal. per month. Still high be world standards, I suppose, but still an accomplishment. Sush still showers normally, but the kids bathe from the bucket.
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You know, I took a drastic step toward conservation without making a pledge contingent on the behavior of others (e.g., five others who do the same thing) -- and it is really easy. A few months after we moved into our new house, I received a quarterly water bill of nearly $600. (That's not a typo -- $600.) It turns out that one continuosly leaking toilet and one intermittently leaking toile can result in the use of 63,000(!) gallons of water. I was so utterly stunned by the volume of waste, that after fixing the toilets and generally carefully monitoring water use (I discourage the kids from playing with the hose outside, for example), I switched from showers to India-style bathing -- from a bucket. I instantly reduced the largest contributor to our house's water waste -- the morning share that I've always used to wake up, which uses 5 gal. per minute. I now bathe from a 6 gal. bucket. Our water usage is down to about 5,000 gal. per month. Still high be world standards, I suppose, but still an accomplishment. Sush still showers normally, but the kids bathe from the bucket.
Jay.
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