environmental attention & money and Dave R. 27 Jun 2007 12:16 pm
Resources, their use, and renewability.
Below, in a post about my water reusage experiment, my friend Angela sent me a chart about this region’s water charges. That promted me to look more closely at my water and electricity bills and to do a little math….if Tia is doing math either the sky is falling or I’m preturbed to distraction and major disclaimer: my math is often wrong.
But if it’s not, we pay more than twice per unit of water than unit of electricity. Cutting back on power usage is pretty easy: you just use less of the things that plug in. Some of it is easier than others….for instance, the lightbulb switch is fairly simple, lights can be turned off during the day and appliances can be unplugged. Some would have a hard time not using their AC for as long as we do but others would have an easier time replacing a horridly-inefficient refridgerator than us. And saving electricity (and gas) is hot in the news because of the carbon emissions/global warming stuff.
But water….I think we really take that for granted. And it strikes me today how much EASIER it is to both conserve electricity and renew the source. If coal isn’t good, there’s nuclear…and wind, the sun, and even water. But if we run out of water???? I know deserts have experirenced this and some parts of the world with long periods of drought. But I’m guessing our average American pretty much takes for granted that when they walk to the spigot and turn it, water (and clean water at that) will flow. Watering restrictions are often ignored or curiously arranged (neighborhoods can’t water but golf courses can?).
Well anway, of almost no matter to me right now is the “average american”….I’m staring my own wastefullness right in the face. Our toilets guzzle huge amounts of water. That monster fridge? Not only being an energy hog it also drains about a gallon of water a day onto my floor. I wash my dishes with running water, at full force, because I detest putting my hands into a dishpan and will procrastinate on the chore if it set up is like that. Running (hot) water with a sponge/soap dispenser, washing and rinsing at the same time, means the dishes get washed. But saving the water to reuse is pretty dang easy and saves 15 gallons a day. And, David can easily rig our drain to take the greywater out, into an enclosed barrel with a spigot. It would pay for itself quickly.
The numbers don’t seem too high…50 for water, 50 for power. Still, I’m looking at the bigger picture and not getting hung on philosophy. What can I do with my footprint to be responsible? And, our phone stuff, with cell and internet, plus the obnoxious conditions this company places on customers is over 200/month. I find that to be ridiciclous outflow of resources. I’d much rather be spending some of that “waste” on better milk for my kids or more seeds for the garden or on a date night with David. I’d rather support a local farmer, growing what I can’t, than let all my dishwater go down the drain. I live in a place where most weeks, water falls from the sky for free. I think I’d be a fool not to learn to use it more wisely.
on 28 Jun 2007 at 9:10 am 1.gina said …
Great post! Are you on a City sewer system? It’s been a while since I’ve been on the WEF, but there may be restrictions on what you are contemplating. Rain water is a whole lot different than greasy dishwater. Good for garden- I’m not sure- the phosphorus would be good, but maybe way too high for the plants. I know even in rural areas here even with septics, the DEQ and Environmental Quality won’t let you put wash water from your washing machine out to surface or even in a separate catch basin underground. I know that doing something like that can get you some big fines:-o If you’re willing to carry it out to dump it, well for their rules anyway- you could probably get away with that, but not the plumbing:-) Just some thoughts.
on 29 Jun 2007 at 7:37 am 2.Tia said …
We have septic. Dishwater can be good for the garden…depends on what you are washing and what you’re using. I use a pure soap and nothing I put on the garden has meat grease in it. I have started calling it “compost water” :-). On wash water from the laundry… do you know about greywater filtrations systems? I’ve one done a tiny bit of reading about them. But I wouldn’t think our laundry water would be an issue…again, I don’t use commercial detergents and use natural ingredients that safe enough for a food source.
The plumbing…I’ve done some considering of composting toilets and “humanure” but I’m not ready to “go” there yet :-p.
on 29 Jun 2007 at 8:10 am 3.gina said …
Hi! Well if you are talking about the filtration systems that are underground in a tub with gravel- a friend of mine tried it and it failed, backed up and they ended up having to hook it back up to their septic. The people that built our house put in a separate drainfield for the washing machine- while it may have been acceptable to do that in the 50’s, supposedly it’s not now. I’m not sure why really- if it’s a filtration through rocks underground- that as eco friendly as you can get! So we’ve not changed it- plus then we’d have to have mainfloor laundry cause the washer can’t pump the water up to the septic line. We have sump pumps in the basement that pump ground water out to the surface and I’ve dreamt of piping it somehow into underground sprinkling along with the runoff from the roof for my garden:-)
on 29 Jun 2007 at 8:16 am 4.gina said …
Humanure or biosolids as they are called would be some work- you’d have to add alot of lime to it to get the pH up so that you don’t have disease issues as well as a fly problem. The City I worked for had a biosolids program so I know quite a bit about it- it’s hard even with the lime for the neighbors not to complain- oh and in Michigan anyway, any biosolids has to be put beneath the soil so that there isn’t runoff with rain, etc. You know what I used to use though for my garden downstate? I’d bring home plant effluent once a month- I know it sounds gross, but it was actually as clear as drinking water, had gone through the whole plant process and is discharged to a local river. OH my gosh-my plants were awesome!