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Conserving water: It's the right thing to do

Oct 09, 2008 - 04:05:59 CDT

It's no big secret that North Dakota is in the midst of a major drought.

It's been that way going on 10 years.

Water is one of those things that I think, for the most part, gets taken for granted in our everyday lives.

As a species, humans have waged wars over territory, religion, oil and what-not. It could be one day it will be over water.

I know that Earth is known as the "water planet," but when you look at it, more than 95 percent of the water on Earth is saltwater and not fit for human use.

And most of the fresh water is locked up in the form of snow and ice in the polar caps, leaving less than 1 percent of the Earth's total water supply available for human consumption.

Besides saving you money each month, the wise use of water in your everyday life is the right thing to do.

For the record, I don't water my lawn. And no, it's not an environmental thing.

If it rains, the grass grows. If it grows, I mow the yard. I'm not a real big fan of mowing the lawn.

I know some like a plush, green lawn and yes, I like the way it looks and feels too.

But there were some things I learned about water usage when I was thinking about doing this column.

As background, it started a few weeks ago when I tried to convince my stepson there is not a reason known to mankind that showers had to take a half hour.

So here it is; the average American uses more than 130 gallons of water a day.

You can do the math as it relates to your family.

This, according to folks who are a lot smarter than me, the good people at the U.S. Geologic Survey.

According to them, a 10-minute shower will use between 20 and 25 gallons of water, depending of course, on water pressure, the type of shower head, etc.

A bath, on the other hand, takes about 50 gallons. Again, do the math.

If you wash dishes with an automatic dishwasher, its 20 gallons a load not to mention electricity.

By hand, about 5 gallons.

A load of clothes, 10 gallons; flushing the toilet 3 to 5 gallons; brushing your teeth, 1 gallon.

You get the idea.

So, there are definitely ways in which we can conserve water.

I've also discovered even a small drip from your faucet can even add up to 20-25 gallons a day.

So here are a few tips to save water:

If your shower fills a gallon bucket in less than 20 seconds, you can save H2O with a more water-efficient shower head.

Put food coloring in your toilet tank; if it turns color in the bowl without flushing you have a leak.

Fixing it can save up to 1,000 gallons a month.

It's also a good idea to run the dishwasher and washing machines when you have full loads only.

And if you are in the market for a new washing machine, consider a front-loading machine; they use less water.

The other things I told my son are no-brainers, but even I find myself not doing them all of the time.

When brushing your teeth, you don't have to keep the faucet running, for Pete's sake.

Same thing goes for shaving. A couple inches of water in the bottom of the sink will rinse your razor just as well.

Some of you crafty, do-it-yourself kind of people out there probably have your own conservation methods that can be related to gas, home heating - you name it.

I'm dating myself here,I know, but I can remember the days of gas lines, 55 mph speed limits and setting your thermostats lower at night.

Well, guess what, folks? We're there again.

Be wise; economize.

(Reach reporter Brian Gehring at 250-8254 or brian.gehring@bismarcktribune.com.)

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Comments

Kimberly wrote on Oct 14, 2008 8:44 AM:

" Since when was that 1% of water only intended for human consumption? Plus, every time a human uses water it is contaminated. This contributes to pollution, which contaminates the land, plants and animals. Then it subsequently contaminates us and is contributory to our diseases, mostly cancers and reproductive issues. Do the research; wasting water is just the tip of the receding iceberg...so to speak. "

lutefisk wrote on Oct 13, 2008 4:34 PM:

" Bill, you completely miss the point. The people with water issues are the ones with a lack of water. With evaporation it may enter into the water cycle, but you do not have control of where it goes from there. Rainfall in the middle of the ocean does the drought stricken areas that depleted their water supplies no good. There also are natural efficiency losses with any natural system, or any process for that matter, that cause this to be less than a perfect cycle. Look at what the poor farming practices of the 20s and 30s did to the midwest resulting in the dust bowl. This was due largely to plowing under natural grasses that held moisture, keeping temperatures lower and limiting evaporation. It is easy to have Bill's opinion when a river seems to run with no end thru your community. "

Bill Gamble wrote on Oct 13, 2008 2:22 PM:

" So what if water evaporates? Doesn't it eventually have to come down? The best way to conserve water is to reuse it multiple times while it is on the surface as (relatively) clean water. Suck it out of the river, purify it, wash yor clothes or dishes or yourself, down the drain, retreat it, and back into the river. If we eventually need more water than we can use and reuse, maybe we should stop pouring it down the big watwerways just to float boats- by FAR the largest cause of water not to be used for people or irrigation (which replenishes water tables if it comes from a flowing water source). "

lutefisk wrote on Oct 13, 2008 12:16 PM:

" I think you are missing a huge part of the water consumption formula and therefore your daily in home usages are way off Brian. Irrigation to produce our food is part of that formula and due to some methods our biggest lose. Some irrigation methods have high rates of evaporation, which is part of the water cycle, but causes the water to often be dispributed in other locations. This is a nice feel good piece to get people to conserve, but there is much more science behind this than the average reader can take in. "

Bill Gamble wrote on Oct 12, 2008 10:38 PM:

" 130 gallons per person daily x 700,000 persons for a year is about 3 days longterm average discharge from Garrison. 6 billion gallons ("billions of gallons") is about a half day from Garrison. Water run down the drain for a bath, shower, dishes, and such is treated and put right back into the rivers or lakes. Water put on your lawn is at least partially available to the water table eventually. 1" of rain across the whole state, such as experienced over the last few days equals 1.15 TRILLION gallons. That alone is equal to about 4 times the output from Garrison annually. This is all just to show that on a hydrologic scale, the gallon is an insignificant measure. Bill Gamble "

jean wrote on Oct 12, 2008 11:10 AM:

" Modern dishwashers use about four gallons of water for the entire process...you probably need a new one. "

westernite wrote on Oct 9, 2008 1:49 PM:

" The oil industry is using billions of gallons a year for fracturing wells. This is water that is completely removed from the hydrological cycle and disposed of deep underground...gone FOREVER. This is not even remotely close to conservation. The state is issueing water permits to landowners to sell water to the oil industry and they don't even know what the state of some of the aquifers are. To its credit they are drilling some monitoring wells but we are in a drought and this needs to come to a halt NOW. Our future depends on it.

Before you posters ask what I do to conserve, we shower quickly, only water our garden when it needs it, don't run the water when we brush our teeth and only run the dishwasher when it is full. We bought a water saver washing machine (it is great and saves us about $20 a month in laundry expense). We are doing our share. "

hopeful wrote on Oct 9, 2008 12:45 PM:

" Brian,

Thank you so much for your great article!

One thing though---a bath does not have to be 50 gallons! We can get clean in much less. And let's face facts: most of us do not need to bathe every day, especially in the winter.

Another way to save water is to eat less meat. This may be controversial here in ND but meat, especially beef, requires a lot of water inputs. Find ways to stretch your meats with soups, stews, etc.

Thanks again, Brian. "

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