Food & environmental attention & she can make her own... 26 Jun 2007 03:02 pm
Two new projects…
I’ve been considering our water usage because:
- water here costs more than electricity
- we’ve had drought conditions for most of May and June
- in learning more about Mexico, we’ve read about how chronic their water situation is, and it indeed gives one pause.
It’s true that a rain barrel, complete with a spigot at the bottom and an enclosed top is on my little list of “dream green purchases”. It’s also true that we go through a lot of water around here! On a normal week I do at least 12-15 loads of laundry, wash dishes with running water 3 x a day, and let the kids play in the hose at least once a week. I also water the garden every other day (not the grass) and we have 6 people showering a few times a week (not every day).
I decided to just run a little experiment in my kitchen. I got a 5 gallon bucket and set it next to the sink. I reduced my water pressure to just over a steady trickle (I usually blast it near full capacity). I washed each dish with another dish underneath to catch the “grey water” and then drained that lower dish into the bucket. I turned the water off to suds/scrub each dish with my handheld soap/sponge combo. My findings? Even with lots of water still doing down the drain, I make enough waste water in each session to nearly FILL my 5 gallon bucket. Each day’s bucket contributions water over 3/4 of the garden!!
Now, yes it’s cool that I’m using the water twice. And I doubt there is much that could have shown me how much water could be reused without doing an experiment like this to wow my socks off. But I am stunned to imagine how much we could get from showers, the laundry, and rainwater. I have tended to work more on my electric bills and phone bills, definitely the food bill…now I have a real way to work on my water bill! I can’t even fathom how much water gets used, single time, on lawns and swimming pools.
Experiment number two: making my own ginger ale!! The recipe is in my Nourishing Tradtions book and it’s so easy I had to give it a try. Basically it’s grated fresh ginger, lime juice, salt, rapadura, whey and water. After just one day it has started to carbonate itself, even though the recipe indicates to strain it and mix with carbonated water when ready to drink.
Has anyone made their own sodas before? One thing I’m noticing is that the pressure is building; I periodically release it to keep the bottle from bursting. But the recipe did not indicate this would happen so I’m befuddled. Will be doing some research.
Snack ideas for this week: frozen bananas in a variety of ways….plain, dipped in chocolate and nuts, caramel and nuts, peanut butter and granola…the kids can’t wait!
on 26 Jun 2007 at 9:27 pm 1.Sarah said …
We used to keep a bucket in the shower with us to catch what didn’t hit us. Quit when we moved, probably ought to do it again since we just had a drought here. Anywho…the frozen bananas sound delicious. Almost any fruit frozen is a great treat. Try pineapple, blueberries, strawberries and kiwi too. They are all great frozen.
on 27 Jun 2007 at 10:04 am 2.Angela123 said …
Utility companies in this area normally bill for water and wastewater by each 1000 gallons that you use. It looks like in most places for each additional 1000 gallons, the total for water and wastewater is not going to even exceed $15 (probably will be
on 27 Jun 2007 at 10:06 am 3.Angela123 said …
Maybe I wrote too much! It cut off my comment . . . leaving out the link to see if that helps . . .
Utility companies in this area normally bill for water and wastewater by each 1000 gallons that you use. It looks like in most places for each additional 1000 gallons, the total for water and wastewater is not going to even exceed $15 (probably will be $10). You can gauge
the actual numbers here:
http://www.discoveret.org/etdd/PDF/utility_rate_06.pdf
So, if you could save as much as 10 gallons every day, it would take
over 3 months to save (not even) 1000 gallons. Would it be possible to
save 10 gallons every day through water reuse, and would the cost
savings be worth the time spent?
I’m just throwing that out there, because I’ve considered making
substantial water reuse efforts before and decided that while I love
the idea in theory, the time spent doing it isn’t worth the money
saved. Not that I don’t try to conserve water in other ways, but I
wouldn’t (for example) reclaim the water from the washing machine to
water the flowers . . . unless I lived in an area where water was
rationed and more expensive.
on 27 Jun 2007 at 11:04 am 4.Tia said …
Thanks for that chart!! We’d been told that our water is higher here than other places because they have to bring the water in; there is no naturally deep source to tap into. We are skeptical of that but our well water here is not safe to drink either so it may have merit. We are outside the corporate limits of our district as well (which is Sunbright) so that adds to the cost.
Most frustrating is the billing system out here. They send out these ridiculous little post cards with your total amount due, account number, and the date due. There are some “usage” numbers but they are in code and not easily deciphered. We average around 6000 gallons of water a month and our bills are regularly over $50/month before taxes and their other fees.
Contrast this with our electricity: We average 500kw a month in usage and our bills are right at 52-55/month. They say, with their much more thorough billing system, that we use around 17kw a day. If my math is right (and it’s often not, so someone check it!) that makes it about .11 cents a kwh. It looks like we are using about 200 gallons a day (and I could save 10 gallons a day JUST by reusing my dishwater). A single gallon of water comes to about .25 cents, twice as much as our electricity per unit.
Wow, actually sitting down and figuring this out has been quite sobering, assuming the calculations are correct.
Kyra, if you see this, somewhere you commented on the phone situation: we are part of a co-op out here and don’t get choices. The only cell provider with coverage is Verizon and we can’t use any specials from other companies for phone or internet. The hidden costs of life in the country indeed.
on 27 Jun 2007 at 11:01 pm 5.Angela123 said …
I’m glad you found the charts to be useful. You do pay a lot for water compared to the rest of the area! I suppose that you have a septic tank since your total bill is around $50, because your bill would be doubled if you were paying Sunbright’s wastewater charges.
I think your math might be wrong on the cost per gallon. If it were $0.25/gallon, then 6000 gallons would cost you $1500 per month.
I calculate less than 1 cent per gallon, but my math could be wrong too.
on 29 Jun 2007 at 7:43 am 6.Tia said …
Yep, septic. Can you imagine $100 a month for water with the city sewer?!?! LOL on the math…I suppose it’s better if I go ahead and laugh at my math (mis)ability. I wondered if the price was somewhat “set” since they have a minimum base charge? It’s going to be 18.25 for 2000 gallons, no matter how much less than that one uses. I can’t remember my formula for coming up with that figure but I think I established that we use about 200 gallons a day; a number that most assuredly must come down, no matter what we pay per gallon.
on 09 Jul 2007 at 11:17 am 7.Cheap Like Me said …
I just found your blog thanks to your “Thinking Blogger” nod, and I love it! I’m the only redhead at my house, but there are many — dare I say it — synchronicities, from Dave Ramsey to big garden to a dream I had last night that I ought to move to Tennessee.
Anyway, did you figure out ginger ale? I blogged a while back about making ginger ale:
http://cheaplikeme.wordpress.com/2007/06/11/dealbusters-homemade-ginger-ale/
It turns out well, although in my opinion it needs a little more sweetener.
I can’t wait to keep reading your blog.