Comments on: Conserving Water: Why It Matters and Ways to Do It

By: chris @ Water Saving Showerheads

chris @ Water Saving Showerheads — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 04:05:47 +0000

These are all great suggestions! I thought I was the only person who practiced the "shower ever other day" philosophy. During the winter I would "wipe off" (my wife hated that, she was addicted to showering daily) but we did see a difference in the water bills after I started doing that. I'm trying to train my little boy that taking a shower is not play time. I've finally gotten him to stop taking toys into the shower. He's not happy about it but I'm trying to teach him the importance of conserving water. I have also switched over to the more efficient shower heads too. The newer ones have a flow rate of 1.5 gpm. I think my older heads were somewhere around 5 gpm! .-= chris @ Water Saving Showerheads´s last undefined ..Response cached until Thu 25 @ 3:50 GMT (Refreshes in 23.84 Hours) =-.

By: Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:50:23 +0000

@tania, The image is not mine, so unfortunately I can't grant you permission. You would need to credit the image author as I have done.

By: tania

tania — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:29:42 +0000

Can i please have permission to use this image for my school work.
Many Thanks.

By: Joe Joe Harrington

Joe Joe Harrington — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:23:48 +0000

I haven't ever posted before, but water is an issue that lays heavy on my heart. After living in an East African village for two years I saw many of my neighbors walk miles for dirty water. They had a special day each week that they would wash their "ndoo" or bucket they would use to fetch the water. We were fortunate that we were able to employ a young man to get our water, but it was still a very stressful issue there. While living there we used most of the tips listed even the "mellowing" method :), but dont worry we didn't let it mellow long. Thanks for posting about this topic. As Americans we consume much more than many other countries, and I think we should work very hard to our best to reduce the amount of water we use.

By: 1ofeach

1ofeach — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 14:07:43 +0000

I'd like Karen and Mr. Karen to help us set up our rainwater collection system! How'd you all make a filter? Getting rain barrels is a goal of ours.

Stephanie, someone mentioned planting drought-tolerant plants, do a google search on Marcus de la Fleur. His site has info and pix of his rain garden, rain barrels, porous pavement, gravel grass, and bioswale. I like his green roof too. (I hope it's ok to mention this here. I learned a lot from his site, even if I can't implement all of it.)

Thank you for your thoughtful posts!

By: Sheri

Sheri — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:00:37 +0000

We do follow a lot of the suggestions you have and I try to conserve - most of the time :) I just wanted to comment because I was reminded of my dad in reading these comments. He has always been one to conserve, but I think more out of frugality than concern for the environment. In thinking of conserving water specifically, here is something he has always done: They have a very humid basement so they need to run a dehumidifier all summer. They fill up the tank at least once a day. Instead of dumping it out my dad pours it in the washing machine to use on a load of laundry. He said it was "free water" (I always thought it was wacky!). In their old house, which did not have a humidity problem, he would leave the water in the tub after his morning bath until it was cold - "free heat"!!! I think he was ahead of his time :)

By: Ruth

Ruth — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:24:00 +0000

Great post, Stephanie! I was freshly inspired to look for even more ways to conserve water than our current efforts. We live in Central CA where there are a lot of water issues, and we have to pay for our water, so conservation is a must. My husband set up our washing machine to empty into a large covered trough, which he uses to water our fruit trees.

We're also planning to install foot pedals for our kitchen and bathroom sinks that allows you to turn the water on and off with your foot, so it's easy to save water while washing dishes, brushing teeth, etc.

By: Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home

Stephanie @ Keeper of the Home — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:16:44 +0000

@JesLes, A lot can change in 9 years! Thank goodness it has! :)

By: Jana

Jana — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:37:55 +0000

Water conservation was never a priority for me until I was on a mission trip in Mexico. There are cities right on the Rio Grande (which is not much of a rio or grande any more) that have to have water brought in by truck. The idea of having my water brought in by truck really stuck with me. Since then I have tried to be a better steward with the water I have.

I cannot thank everyone enough for such wonderful ideas. Really appreciate your attention to this topic Stephanie. Thanks!

By: nicole

nicole — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:14:48 +0000

We are in So Cal, so water conservation is a must. I actually did share the rhyme of the toilet to my 3 and 5 yr olds in hopes of saving water there. Sometimes they go potty just a tiny bit, many times a day.... well it backfired on us! For one, yes I do have to clean toliets a lot more and check toilets when someone comes over (which is not a lot). The biggest problem though is my 5 yr old has reverted to not flushing #2 at all! yikes. It is not great and now we are relearning that "process". :)

But we also put a bucket in the shower for the warm up time and the girls always bathe together.