Water, Water Everywhere…
October 15, 2007 by Deborah Ng
Filed under Eco Simplicity, Reusing and Recycling
It’s Blog Action Day, so let’s talk about water. For most of us, it’s so abundant we take it for granted. We have water when we flush, water when we brush and water when we wash the dishes. We use water for our pools and lawns and water slides. We have water balloon fights and dunking tanks and not too many of us give a second thought to where our water comes from or what we need to do to keep it clean.
When I was a young girl, my father and I were in a canoe together on a lake in the 
That was more than 30 years ago. Nowadays we’re aware of the dangers of pollution, but I wonder if many of us still consider how much water we waste every time we brush our teeth or let the faucet run until the water is chilly enough for drinking.
When I was a teenager,
It saves money, not to mention water, to practice some simple conservation tips:
- Don’t run lawn sprinklers. I know the trend is to have a beautiful lawn but it’s so wasteful. Our lawn looks ok and we haven’t had rain in weeks. Lots of families are making the move to eliminate the front lawn altogether and instead plant veggies or hardy flowers. Other families are landscaping with stone or putting soccer nets and swingsets out in front..
- Don’t let the water run while you brush your teeth. Really, this is a no brainer.
- Take shorter showers. All you need to do is lather up and rinse off, how long does that take?
- Use rainwater to water plants, the car and other items.
- Reuse your veggie water.
- Don’t flush unless you have to.
- Fill a bottle of water and use that for drinking instead of letting the faucet run for cold water.
- Two words: Gray water.
These are simple things we can do. Perhaps if one person does this it won’t do much good, but if we all do our part to conserve water, we’ll make a heck of a difference.
Great post! I love the story of your dad; I always like to hear why some people are into green issues, know where that drive comes from as opposed to not considering green living at all. Beautiful picture too. The only thing I’d have to disagree with is the last part. One person can save gallons and gallons each day alone. That’s enough water for some fish, or enough for a whole school to drink. One person can be a big deal.