Dripping Away the Pennies: Water Conservation on a Budget

I’ve managed to avoid a summer hike on my electric bill by fighting off the vampires so now its time to figure out how to reduce my water bill. Oh and of course, offset my carbon footprint.

Sometimes we think using water is okay. I mean the world is 70 percent water, it rains a lot, water gets reused…it’s okay. Aaaah the blissful naivety of ignorance.

Think about it: cleaning water takes machines, chemicals, transportation and electricity. The process involves synthetic chemicals and petrochemicals and of course, emissions. Emissions contribute to global warming.

Besides measuring our individual carbon footprint, you can also measure a countries water footprint, that is, how much water a single country consumes. America is well into the red zone, far above the global average.

We may be okay for water here but other places aren’t so lucky. Water conservation is a key element in helping the planet get through this bad patch. So we have to reduce our water usage, especially our hot water usage which is a double carbon calamity.

So first off, turn off the tap and make sure it’s actually off. A dripping tap amounts to hundreds of dollars down the drain every year. And all those gallons could have gone to much better use like growing crops for food in Africa (yeah there’s a tap turning off guilt trip for you!).

Turn down the hot water heater. The recommended low temp is 120 degrees. Most tanks are set at 140 so go and check where you stand. This will make a nice savings in the electric bill too.

Reuse water. I know that sounds gross but there are plenty of opportunities to do so, especially when cooking. If you boil eggs in a pan of water and don’t break any eggs in the process what do you have? A pan of hot water. Great for washing dishes. If you boil vegetables in water, what’s wrong with taking a cup of that water to make your mash potatoes with? Nothing.

Get out of the shower when you are clean not when you are wrinkly. Taking a hot shower is great after a run but its not really necessary everyday. It’s a complete waste of water and electricity. Think crops in Africa, greenhouse gases and carbon footprints if you need a motivation to grab for that towel a few minutes earlier.

If you can’t resist a long hot shower or boiling your clothes to death, then at least offset your consumption by buying carbon credits. Water is a precious commodity, just like the money in our wallets. Saving both is a step in the right direction.