70 replies to this topic

[ACSAPA]

Again, I'm impressed that you guys actually have systems and pipes installed for recycling your water. I have a big barrel for catching rainwater but it's not hooked up to any kind of system. When the barrel has water in it, I just dip my watering can in it and water my plants.

When I use bathwater to water the lawn, I just grab a couple of buckets and get the water from the tub, I don't  have anything installed to make the tub drain directly on to the lawn. Oh well, at least I'm recycling water, in the most cavewoman ,basic way possible.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

ACSAPA, on 22 July 2012 - 10:46 AM, said:

Again, I'm impressed that you guys actually have systems and pipes installed for recycling your water. I have a big barrel for catching rainwater but it's not hooked up to any kind of system. When the barrel has water in it, I just dip my watering can in it and water my plants.

When I use bathwater to water the lawn, I just grab a couple of buckets and get the water from the tub, I don't  have anything installed to make the tub drain directly on to the lawn. Oh well, at least I'm recycling water, in the most cavewoman ,basic way possible.

Don't knock yourself.
You're doing a helluva lot more than most.
Congrats and bravo.

[Dustoffer]

We average using around 40 gallons a day for two people.  Low flow showerheads and toilets, hand wash dishes, Staber washing machine.  When I take a bath instead of shower, the water is used to flush that toilet by 1 gallon pitcher.   The gardens are watered with rain catchment water.  I also use a Biolet compost toilet sometimes.  It is our own 280 ft. deep well into several underground fissures with water, and we could use a lot more than we do.  We usually shower every other day, wash dishes daily, and clothes every other day or less.  The Staber uses 15 gallons and we use a green wash ball, or 1 oz of liquid.   If the tub is empty, we keep 4 gallons in pitchers and buckets for flushing that toilet at night.  The big concern is it takes 10 minutes of sunlight to fill the batteries after the pump runs to fill our 10 gallon net pressure tank.  We fill old soda bottles with drinking water for night, too.

[Mustaxina]

It's not really a tip you can apply at home, but one of the best things mankind could do to save water is breaking its addiction with meat. Raising a pig/cow/lamb requires far more water than raising the nutritional equivalent in plants. I don't know the exact difference but I think it's at least one order of magnitude greater. Then, all the farmers who have raised livestock until now can turn to raising insects for food. It has many advantages: 1) insect meat is much healthier than mammal meat; 2) it is less cruel for animals, as insects are less sentient; 3) it costs far less, as the facilities needed to keep insects are much cheaper than those needed to keep mammals; and 4) it saves literally tonnes of water.

So, if you know any stockbreeders out there, ask them to consider shifting at least part of their production to insects! It might not be very popular at the beginning, but remember that 100 years ago virtually no-one in Europe and America was a vegetarian, and now a lot of people are.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Mustaxina, on 07 August 2012 - 12:07 PM, said:

It's not really a tip you can apply at home, but one of the best things mankind could do to save water is breaking its addiction with meat. Raising a pig/cow/lamb requires far more water than raising the nutritional equivalent in plants. I don't know the exact difference but I think it's at least one order of magnitude greater. Then, all the farmers who have raised livestock until now can turn to raising insects for food. It has many advantages: 1) insect meat is much healthier than mammal meat; 2) it is less cruel for animals, as insects are less sentient; 3) it costs far less, as the facilities needed to keep insects are much cheaper than those needed to keep mammals; and 4) it saves literally tonnes of water.

So, if you know any stockbreeders out there, ask them to consider shifting at least part of their production to insects! It might not be very popular at the beginning, but remember that 100 years ago virtually no-one in Europe and America was a vegetarian, and now a lot of people are.

Excellent! Thank you!

[Shortpoet-GTD]

I don't agree with this articles affirmation that Asia is one of the worst offenders of exploiting underground water
reserves.
America's hands are not clean on this matter by a long shot.
http://www.huffingto...tm_hp_ref=green

http://www.overpopul....org/water.html
http://water.usgs.go...w/pubs/fs00165/

https://docs.google....FPdVNIC6g&pli=1

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Surprise, surprise.
San Antonio has been labeled "waters most resourceful city."

They have responded to dwindling water supplies by drastically cutting consumption, adding new storage techniques
and investing in water recycling and even desalination projects.

They have ordinances in place for watering during certain parts of the day, and the city has given away
numerous water efficient commodes.

They also offer free water audits, to show homeowners where they can save water resources and if they
have leaking pipes or other issues, the city offers a program called "Plumbers to People."
http://www.saws.org/...ty/plumbers.cfm

The more water San Antonio's residents use, the higher their bill's are. Not too many cities do that.
http://www.npr.org/2...art?ft=1&f=1025

More cities need to push hard in this direction also aka-deal with it now, before it's gone.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

One tip I forgot to add, but I've been doing it for so long, it's a habit now and spaced it off.
Anyway-
ladies
put 3-4 cups of water in a small basin and shave your legs outside. (Using natural soap and refillable razors of course.)

I've been doing this during the warm months (which is most of the year anyway) and it has several advantages.
1-It saves water.
2- You can see every single hair because of the sunlight. (Omg-I've got a hair there?)

3-You can moisturize after your done, with natural oils like olive, coconut or other veggie oils (available
in the hair care sections of most markets.)
4- If your sitting on the stoop, rather than a chair, it's easy to give yourself a pedicure at the same time-
sans polish; too many chemicals.
5- Just throw the water in the yard. There is not enough "soap" in the water to worry about it.
6- Your feet get a good relaxing soak while you shave.
7- You might even be lucky enough to chill out long enough to hear the birdies singing to you; and relax.
8-

[Shortpoet-GTD]

Ok, so you've saved so much water, you haven't heard it in a while.

Chill out to this-
http://www.youtube.c...o?v=LYk2WapUm7Y

[grachio]

Close the faucet firmly to not make it leak. Reuse the water with soap by flowing it  in areas, in order to conserve the cleaning effect of the soap. Open the faucet at moderate flow to not consume much water. When it rains go out and take your shower there. Only pour water on your glass which is enough for you and no excess.

[watersurveyEU]

Another way to save water is actually not to pollute it irreversibly:
Don't wash medicine/ acids and other "chemicals" down the plughole.

Avoid artificial fertilizers which might contaminate the groundwater.

[E3 wise]

You get no argument from me on this issue.  We pollute way to much water in our farming and energy production.  Fracking is polluting millions of gallons for shale gas, often in areas where water is in short supply already, seems crazy to me to sell our future for a resource that could just as easily come from water treatment, or landfill gases.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

And how much water do vegetarians/vegans waste washing produce? (General question to the members/readers)

[LouisseSantos]

we can conserve water by simply using cups when we brush our teeth, when we wash our plates and use the water again with plants.

[czarinaisabelle]

One of the best solution for us not to experience not having water like in Africa is to save it. I would suggest that we really need to conserve water. 1st we should keep faucet closed every time it is not in use. 2nd used water can re use again "Reusing of water" is what i mean, for example the water that is used in laundry could be use to clean our cars. 3rd waters that is been stock in drums can be use in watering the plants.

[Shortpoet-GTD]

"Climate change can increase water demand and decrease water supply to the extent that, barring
major adaptation efforts, substantial future water shortages are likely, especially in the larger Southwest.

Because further global temperature increases are probably unavoidable, adaptation will be essential in
the areas of greatest increase in projected probability of shortage."

http://www.treesearc...d.us/pubs/42363

[Shortpoet-GTD]

After watching the updated version of The Crumbling of America on History 2 channel, the number one
way we can save water is to demand that water and waste pipes be replaced across America!!!
And it would create millions of jobs to boot!!

Yes it will cost millions, probably billions, but we are on the brink of a massive collapse from
aging, rusty water and waste pipes.
The program stated the statistic of 7-9 billion (with a gallons of water wasted yearly from leaking pipes
in America.

"Aviation, D
Bridges, C
Dams, D
Drinking Water, D
Energy, D+
Hazardous Waste, D
Inland Waterways, D
Levees, D
Public Parks and Recreation, C
Rail, C-; Roads, D
Schools, D
Solid Waste, C+
Wastewater, D
Transit, D."
http://realtruth.org...2-americas.html

If your daughter or son came home from school with D's and C's, how happy would you be? Would you
work with your child to improve the situation or just ignore it?

We cannot ignore our aging infrastructure. Feces in drinking water will become an everyday occurrence,
and people will have to boil their water; including those lazy louts in congress.

[E3 wise]

Of all the many issues we face today, water is one of the least understood.  We all need it, it is used in every product produced and people tend to take it for granted.  Did you know that social scientist estimate that every person in the United States gained an average of 35 years of lifespan in the last 100 years, because of clean drinking water.  Things like Cholera which killed my great great grand mother in 1908 are almost unknown today here.  Yet in countries like India and other countries clean drinking water is a  luxury.  We are so fortunate, but if we are not careful, if we don't start saving and cherishing water we could face a huge crisis.

Fixing our aging water infrastructure will be expensive, but the cost of doing nothing will be much greater.  The extended drought in the west and climate change are making the situation worse, which is why everyone of us should commit to doing something small everyday to save water.  It is this cumulative affect that can go a long way to help.

When we formed our company we felt we needed an acronym to provide an understanding of our core beliefs and mission.  After a long time we came up with E3WISE. It means Economic Environmental Energy [E3] because Water IS Essential [WISE]. In other words renewable energy saves billions of gallons of water everyday and as it grows it saves even more water.

Did you know it takes 5 gallons of water to produce 1 gallon of gasoline, 12 gallons to produce 1 gallon of diesel, 1500 to produce a gallon of corn ethanol,  coal 60 gallons for every 5 BTUs, natural gas 100 gallons for 5 BTUs without fracking and if fracking is used up to 1100 gallons for that same 5 BTUs.

My point is some water is used to produce solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells and so on but when compared to fossil fuels it is less than 10% of what they use and with no pollution! green house gasses! or water pollution.  I know someone will point out China which does not follow this same model, and they are correct, but if you look at all other producers, they follow strict environmental guidelines and safety practices.  Which is another reason we should not be fooled by cheep Chinese solar prices, their lower quality and cost comes at the price of water and greater pollution.

Anyway for the most part renewable energy saves water, our planet and future generations and it keepers energy dollars in local economies. That's why renewable energy is E3WISE

[Besoeker]

E3 wise, on 16 November 2013 - 07:52 PM, said:

My point is some water is used to produce solar panels, wind turbines, fuel cells and so on but when compared to fossil fuels it is less than 10% of what they use and with no pollution!

This has been discussed here before and I got neg-repped for just stating a few simple facts and I'll do so again to dispel some of the disinformation put about regardless of the risk of being awarded more negative points.

Very few processes actually consume water in the sense that a coal-fired power station consumes coal.
Water is used to produce superheated steam to drive steam turbines. The low pressure pass-out steam is condensed, that what the cooling towers do, and the resulting condensate is re-used. For process reasons it is not desirable to use fresh source water.

I did a student apprenticeship in electrical engineering. It was a sponsored degree in return for which I worked the sponsoring company during vacation periods. It was a fairly large manufacturing plant with its own coal fired power station. Some of the LP pass out steam was used for heating very large curing ovens and returned to the power station as condensate after passing through steam traps.

Unfortunately, quite a lot wasn't making it back resulting in increased operating costs. During one of my vacation periods I was seconded to the power station and was assigned the task of trying to find where the precious stuff was absconding - going AWOL. It was a huge site. I did a lot of walking. But eventually discovered a technical issue.  The pass out steam pressure had been increased, not by a lot, but enough to exceed the operating level of the steam traps. The steam was simply escaping to atmosphere. A simple redesign of the traps and a bit of TLC for leaking condensate pump glands and the problem went away.

Then there are the cooling towers at power stations where steam isn't used for anything other than the turbines but has to be cooled for re-use. Often, the cooling water is untreated river water. Once it has done its job, it gets discharged back to the river, none the worse for wear.

So, it isn't consumed for either purpose and any article that states otherwise is, at best, disingenuous.

It's a similar story for other processes. Papermaking, for example, needs absolutely oodles of water.
It's a bit of a black art to get it right but the basics are very simple.

Cellulose fibre is mixed with a lot of water, the mixture is forced under pressure through a long narrow gap, "the slice" on to a giant conveyor belt moving sieve, the wire section, and the sheet is thus formed.
Vacuum boxes under the wire suck off most of the water which is recycled back to the process.
Next come the presses. They are like giant mangles. They squeeze the wet sheet against absorbent felts to to most of the remaining water out.Which is collected and recycled.
Then there are the drying cylinders.Large heated rollers and the remaining moisture comes off as steam, sucked into the hood - where it is collected and recycled.

[E3 wise]

_{My point is the fuel used to heat that water, I am not talking about the water that is used to make the steam for the turbine.  I am discussing the water used to produce the fossil fuels used to heat the water.  I understand steam powered turbines return water to the atmosphere.  The amount of water used to produce coal, natural gas, oil, gasoline and so on is what I am focused on.  Which is why I used the BTU numbers, the fuel used to heat the steam takes millions of gallons on its own to produce the heat to produce steam.}