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almost every second news broadcast in Australia, some reference is made to global warming, and the
state of various dams and catchment areas on which we rely for Water. And
we rely on water for life itself. At the moment in Victoria, our catchments for all water use is
down to 40% of total capacity – across the board. Not good.
At
first I was very sceptical about global warming as apparently are many others in the world.
But it is hard to argue with scientific evidence, although most of what is said are projections for the future.
What is happening now – in the present in this country and in many others, is a worry. We have been drought stricken for 11 years now – with consistently lower than average
rainfalls generally, all over the country. Some areas have been spared
that but most haven’t.
This
applies currently also to the United States of America who have seen the worst of bush fires in the latest of summer time
in California, drought so bad in one or two of the southern states that drinking water was and maybe still is compromised,
and in other countries extreme conditions prevail, killing people and making others homeless through cyclones, floods, severe
heat and other odd weather phenomena. Of
course, one could argue that we – the world, have been through all this before – time after time over the centuries
and milleniums. And we have indeed.
One small comfort for me personally, while we suffer extreme heat in Victoria at present (mid
November 2007 as I write) interspersed with thunderstorms and a little rain, is the fact that when end of year exams
in my High School days were held, we did them in a pre-fabricated no air conditioning school room on searing days of heat
and that was 50 years ago. Of course air-conditioning did not exist then. But the extreme heat certainly did. It
was not conducive to putting the best foot forward for an exam. So I am hopeful that not as much might have changed as
has been suggested by the scientific world. That may be wishful thinking
on my part of course, and I do not wish to enter any debates on the subject.
It’s best to be safe, not sorry in today’s world and with that in mind I have selected
some water saving tips from an online site, and add some of my own and some of the ideas of friends and relatives. After all, even if we had non-stop rain for 6 months (extremely unlikely), it’s still
comforting to know that we have done everything we possibly can to conserve water.
There are some ingenious plans out there for the conservation of water, so here goes.
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Many decades ago before our infra-structure was
put in place for urban water, rain-water tanks were to be found everywhere. They were banned in the heady years
of good even weather patterns when dams were consistently full, but have since made a re-entry into the market and bans on
them have been lifted – indeed some State Governments are offering a rebate on the installation of them in private suburban homes. Where possible and affordable, the installation of a good sized tank is highly
recommended.
Tanks however are expensive, but there are other ways of catching overflow from the occasional
downpours we do have.
1. Buckets
are about $2.00 each at the bargain stores. Not aesthetic admittedly to see buckets
lined up around areas that overflow from house guttering, but necessary just the same. Something
has to catch that precious water. Here in Mahony Street, quite a few people have
resorted to the bucket system, and when full they are kept until the rain has
stopped for days, used on the garden or pot plants, or (in our case) mostly decanted into 8 black 60 Litre bins. This has far outweighed our expectations. It is
no big deal to take a large watering can, dip it into the bins, and water specific plants and pot plants. And think of the exercise you get while walking back and forth to collect the water !!
2. Grey water
- this is collected in a variety of ways.
Through a pipe designed and produced to go over the outlet hose of most washing machines, which is then placed
through a door or window on the day of washing – to be collected in a large bin or container to be used later on the
garden. Using domestic phosphate free, eco friendly washing liquids or
powders is best in the washing machine for safer grey water – although we have not lost one plant to the use of grey
water and I haven’t heard of anyone else doing so.
3. More Grey Water
Although it is desirable to cut your shower time in half at least these days, you might be very surprised at
how much water you can catch in a small bucket or container from your own shower.
This can be used again on the garden or even for washing a few hand washed items.
After all you have worn them – and you have washed in the water to clean them so there’s nothing gross
about using that saved water for hand washing.
4. In the Kitchen - This is a personal one from me. When deciding to hand wash the dishes, and I do so when there are pots to be
washed, I do not fill the sink to do the dishes. Instead I use any or all
of the pots, provided of course they are not burnt or have anything nasty sticking to the sides, like the remains of porridge
– that’s out. But a pot that has used only water for whatever
reason (pasta ?), or has been used as a steamer is perfect to wash smaller pieces in.
This saves a heap of water. The only water from the hot tap in other
use here, is the other smaller sink ¼ filled, if you have a second sink.
If you don’t, a very quick rinse under the hot water tap, turned on and off on each occasion. The beauty of this is that while you clean the smaller pieces (cups, glasses, cutlery, saucers
and small plates etc.) you are in fact doing a good job of cleaning the pot itself.
Needless to say a reasonable sized pot – the larger the better, is needed for this exercise. But even 1 ½ to 2 litre pots work well.
5. In the kitchen
again Water efficient taps and tap aerators save on water
use. Note if a tap begins to drip – change the washers in the tap
immediately. One leaking tap can waste more than 2,000 litres in a month.
6. In the Garden
- a good way of watering pot plants, is to have one of those buckets of water,
¾ full preferably, on your patio or wherever you keep your potted plants. Immersing
the held pot into the bucket for a few moments or until bubbles have stopped rising to the surface of the potted plant, then
allowing the run off from beneath to re-enter the bucket, saves a lot on watering.
This of course is for smaller potted plants. The big one’s
don’t fit !! lol.
By now you might be saying to yourselves – why go to all that bother. It seems fruitless, a whole lot of work and why ?
Well believe me – it is worth it’s weight in gold, as here in Victoria
and in other States in Australia, by a
majority of people trying to save water, consumption has fallen. Which
means we maintain at least a bit of the little we have left in our dams. The
same applies to other countries who have heat wave conditions, or lowered dam capacities, so don’t knock it until you’ve
tried it. It also has a side benefit of making a person feel good
that they are doing their bit to help overall. Nice feeling.
Below are a few pieces I have taken from an Australian water conservation site.
