Author Topic: Water Usage: How to lower it?  (Read 12363 times)

kara

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 3
Water Usage: How to lower it?
« on: June 30, 2014, 03:36:29 PM »
deleted
« Last Edit: November 12, 2020, 08:54:48 PM by karaishere »

Paul der Krake

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 5854
  • Age: 16
  • Location: UTC-10:00
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #1 on: June 30, 2014, 03:45:21 PM »
Are you my old roommate? I swear that girl would go take a piss every 45 minutes on the dot. So many gallons over the course of a month...

But seriously, yes your usage is high. Why do you need 5 loads of laundry per week? My comparable household averages 2 loads per week. Put all your clothes together on cold (lower electricity too!) and you'll never need to seperate colors and whites and stinky running shirts again.

How long are your showers? People have very different opinions as to what constitutes fast.

warfreak2

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1136
  • Location: UK
    • Music by me
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #2 on: June 30, 2014, 04:08:31 PM »
There are adapters you can get to put on taps and shower-connectors which reduce the flow, I have noticed no difference in effectiveness; the water company here gives them out for free to help people save money. There's also the old brick-in-the-cistern or the new dual-flush toilet, and of course you don't need to flush every time you take a pee. Dishwashers might actually use less water than handwashing, depending on how you do it. You don't have to wash towels after every use, or bedclothes every week; turn the duvet and pillows the other way up halfway through. When you shower, you can turn the water off while you use the soap and shampoo; while you wait for the water to heat up, you can collect the cold water in a bucket, it could be enough for one or two flushes.

I use a little over 1 cubic metre of water per month (for one person). Google says that's less than half a CCF. Maybe this just means I'm dirty and smelly!

eil

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 246
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #3 on: June 30, 2014, 05:13:33 PM »
Two suggestions:

1) Low-flower showerheads and sink aerators. There are a bunch of Amazon. I can't remember which ones I bought, but I recall that they were not expensive.

2) Dual-flush toilet kits. Don't go to the hardware store to get them, the ones they sell are overpriced crap. I installed this company's products on all three of my toilets and they work great: http://www.water-saver.org/

KS

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 208
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #4 on: June 30, 2014, 05:44:52 PM »
We are also 2 adults (but no dogs) in an apartment but our water/sewer is included in our rent, so I actually have no clue how much we use for comparison... I grew up during one of California's worst droughts, and we're in another bad one now so I like to think I'm pretty good but am sure there is room for improvement! But I agree with the other suggestions for low-flow showerheads/faucets/toilets and that the amount of laundry seems like it could be cut back a lot. For other ideas, maybe these drought-awareness tip-sheets will have a few things you haven't tried yet:

http://saveourh2o.org/content/home

http://wateruseitwisely.com/100-ways-to-conserve/?view=list

Nords

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3421
  • Age: 63
  • Location: Oahu
    • Military Retirement & Financial Independence blog
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #5 on: June 30, 2014, 09:53:53 PM »
Some quiet morning when nobody's using water in your house, you could check your water meter to see if the little shape on the dial is spinning.  On our meter it's a blue triangle, and if it's moving then it's usually a sign of a leaky toilet valve or a leaky sprinkler irrigation control valve. 

People have very strong opinions on high-efficiency washing machines (mostly negative) but they do save a lot of water.  They can also spin the clothes nearly dry, which reduces run time on your dryer clothesline.  They're also pretty cheap on Craigslist.

Do you have a reverse-osmosis (RO) filter in your house?  That backflushes with water occasionally, which will drive up your use.

My favorite water-saving trick is showering at the beach, but that might not work for everyone year-round...

DollarBill

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 897
  • Age: 49
  • Location: Austin TX
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #6 on: June 30, 2014, 10:35:37 PM »
I tried to lower my bill but figured out it doesn't mater. I'm billed for 2000 gallons as a base price but use only 1300 gallons. So if I conserve more it doesn't matter.

Catbert

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 3298
  • Location: Southern California
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #7 on: July 01, 2014, 01:48:02 PM »
Well, depending on how far you want to go...

Remember the old 70s line, "When its yellow let it mellow, when it's brown flush it down." 

Keep a bucket in the shower for warm up water.  I use mine in the garden.  You could use yours in the kitchen to rinse dishes a bit before going in the dishwasher.  Or to flush the toilet.

Take Navy showers (at least in the summer).  Turn on water and get wet.  Turn off water and shampoo, lather, shave, etc.  Turn water back on to rinse off.

darkadams00

  • Bristles
  • ***
  • Posts: 419
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #8 on: July 01, 2014, 05:09:08 PM »
1) Shower together. Awesome way to start the day and cuts the water in half unless you spend twice as long as normal--but it might make you late for work occasionally.

2) Be willing to wear clothing two days or more, typically items that haven't gotten visibly dirty/sweaty on the outside (active wear, gardening clothes) or come in constant skin contact (underwear, t-shirts, socks, etc). Wash on cold and wash large but not overstuffed loads. Not changing clothes four times a day for each specific task helps as well.


Kierun

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 673
  • Location: HI
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #9 on: July 01, 2014, 05:21:40 PM »
You could consider combat showers, turn on water, get wet, turn off water, lather up, turn on water, rinse off, turn off water, towel off, put on clothes (optional).

DollarBill

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 897
  • Age: 49
  • Location: Austin TX
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #10 on: July 01, 2014, 06:03:17 PM »
You could consider combat showers, turn on water, get wet, turn off water, lather up, turn on water, rinse off, turn off water, towel off, put on clothes (optional).
They called it "pits, nuts and butts" in basic...lol

Kierun

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 673
  • Location: HI
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #11 on: July 01, 2014, 06:23:27 PM »
You could consider combat showers, turn on water, get wet, turn off water, lather up, turn on water, rinse off, turn off water, towel off, put on clothes (optional).
They called it "pits, nuts and butts" in basic...lol

My basic was co-ed...had to be pc in the softer, kinder, gentler army. :(

moreless

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 6
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #12 on: July 01, 2014, 07:16:19 PM »
My basic was co-ed...had to be pc in the softer, kinder, gentler army. :(

Oh come now. My great aunt was in the navy nurse corps, and she has oodles of stories about her officers. Many things they might have been during her training and deployment, but politically correct could not be claimed as one of them.

Ladies version was pits, tits, and ass during her time in the navy, by the by. ;)

OP, towels wipe water off your clean body. Unless they don't dry out between showers and get musty or something, there's very little reason to wash them once a week. If you really must switch towels once a week, at least wait until you have more than one towel per person and a handtowel before doing a whole load of laundry.

Kierun

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 673
  • Location: HI
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #13 on: July 01, 2014, 07:36:30 PM »
My basic was co-ed...had to be pc in the softer, kinder, gentler army. :(

Oh come now. My great aunt was in the navy nurse corps, and she has oodles of stories about her officers. Many things they might have been during her training and deployment, but politically correct could not be claimed as one of them.

Ladies version was pits, tits, and ass during her time in the navy, by the by. ;)
Yes, but the military (and society) has changed a lot since the time your great aunt was in the service and went to basic. 

DollarBill

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 897
  • Age: 49
  • Location: Austin TX
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #14 on: July 01, 2014, 08:11:15 PM »

hoodedfalcon

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 514
  • Location: Deep and Dirty
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #15 on: July 01, 2014, 08:20:37 PM »
I recently had a plumbing issue that resulted in significantly reduced water pressure at my kitchen sink. That is the only faucet affected, but my bill went down about $10/month because of it. I don't have a dishwasher, so everything is handwashed. I shower every other day. 2-3 loads of laundry a week (it's just me, but I have leaky pets). So, the upshot of this is, I think a low flow/aerator would make a huge difference.

Oh, and I don't flush every time I pee.

PindyStache

  • Stubble
  • **
  • Posts: 241
  • Location: Minneapolis
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #16 on: July 01, 2014, 08:50:30 PM »
Our usage (2 adults, 1 toddler, story+half on city lot) ranges from 1500-3000 gallons per month, as a point of comparison.

Hotstreak

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 838
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #17 on: July 01, 2014, 09:27:59 PM »
To help your towels last longer between washes, let yourself dry more before you step out of the shower.  You can use your hands like a "squeegee" to get a lot of the water off your legs, arms, torso, face and hair.  I started doing this and noticed my towels staying much dryer, which really lowered the "ick" factor of wiping myself with a towel that's been damp all day.  No bad smells on the thing either!

kimmarg

  • Pencil Stache
  • ****
  • Posts: 750
  • Location: Northern New England
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #18 on: July 01, 2014, 10:15:37 PM »
I'm just curious, how much is your water bill in $$? I run about the same as you for usage.... but for my 5 CCF usage we are charged around $16/month. Which means that pretty much anything that costs money to save water has a ridiculous payback period. I could be better about doing a few less loads a week I suppose, but we already have a high efficiency washer. Just curious. Seems like there are better ways to save $$ than saving water. (Yes, I know there's an environmental argument here and I respect that is a great reason to save water, I am just curious about the $ since this is a money forum!)

Cressida

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2376
  • Location: Sunset Zone 5
  • gender is a hierarchy
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #19 on: July 01, 2014, 10:43:18 PM »
I wash the sheets every week because I don't like sleeping on sweaty, grimy sheets. Guess I need to get over that. I wash the towels every week because we each use one bath towel all week and one hand towel in the bathroom. I thought they were pretty dirty after 7 days

Possibly the towels can go another few days. I'm with you on the sheets, though. I think washing the sheets once a week is totally understandable, especially if anyone in the household has a tendency to break out. If not, well, maybe they could go a little longer. But I go with once a week for sure.

mm1970

  • Senior Mustachian
  • ********
  • Posts: 10880
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #20 on: July 02, 2014, 09:04:52 AM »
We are in a drought and we use the same amount of water you do, but for four people.  It's important to note that we aren't here during the day.

We have a low-water toilet that made a huge difference (from 5HCF to 4HCF).

When I wash veggies, I wash them in a bowl and use the water to water our plants out back.

When I cook veggies, I steam instead of boil.  I usually make spaghetti in "one pot", meaning I cook the spaghetti in the sauce, uses less water.

Things I haven't started doing yet, but have thought about: putting a bucket in the shower and collect water as it's warming.  And save the water from the laundry (our washer has a hose that goes into an industrial sink, so it would be easy).  I'd use this to water plants.

Don't flush every time you pee.  It's a waste of water.

bacchi

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7056
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #21 on: July 02, 2014, 09:48:33 AM »
Take Navy showers (at least in the summer).  Turn on water and get wet.  Turn off water and shampoo, lather, shave, etc.  Turn water back on to rinse off.

Put a cut-off valve in front of your shower head, like so:

http://www.amazon.com/Quarter-Shower-Valve-Polished-Chrome/dp/B00K11XNLQ/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1404315796&sr=8-3&keywords=shower+head+turn+off

Easy.

Cwadda

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 2178
  • Age: 29
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #22 on: July 02, 2014, 01:19:10 PM »
I wash the sheets every week because I don't like sleeping on sweaty, grimy sheets. Guess I need to get over that. I wash the towels every week because we each use one bath towel all week and one hand towel in the bathroom. I thought they were pretty dirty after 7 days

Possibly the towels can go another few days. I'm with you on the sheets, though. I think washing the sheets once a week is totally understandable, especially if anyone in the household has a tendency to break out. If not, well, maybe they could go a little longer. But I go with once a week for sure.

That's what I do. I use 1 towel for about every 2-3 weeks. It's really not a big deal since it's a clean body you're drying off and it's just water.

Jack

  • Magnum Stache
  • ******
  • Posts: 4725
  • Location: Atlanta, GA
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #23 on: July 03, 2014, 12:54:27 PM »
I tried to lower my bill but figured out it doesn't mater. I'm billed for 2000 gallons as a base price but use only 1300 gallons. So if I conserve more it doesn't matter.

Could it be that they merely round to 2000-gallon units? If you consistently used 1300 gallons/month, would it be possible that they might charge you for 2000 gallons the first month (total cumulative use 1300 gallons), 2000 gallons the second month (total cumulative use 2600 gallons), and zero gallons the third month (total cumulative use 3900 gallons)?

Although my usage is not low enough for it to happen, that's how my city would do it (except rounded to 1 CCF increments).

bacchi

  • Walrus Stache
  • *******
  • Posts: 7056
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #24 on: July 03, 2014, 01:57:08 PM »
Interesting. Do you think this is a better option than getting a low flow shower head? Then again, I could just use the faucet handle and turn the water on and off that way.

I have both a low flow shower head and the cut-off valve. My shower has hot and cold handles and getting the right temperature is a hassle, so the cut-off valve is far easier.

greaper007

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1117
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #25 on: July 05, 2014, 11:25:48 PM »
3000 isn't that bad, that's what I use for a family of four (though 2 people are under 5 and bathe together every other day).    I have all low flow toilets, 1.5 gpm shower heads (helps tremendously) a front loader and try to only wash dishes in the dishwasher.    My modern (made in the last 15 years) dishwasher only uses 4 gallons per cycle, try to wash a load of dishes by hand with a shot glass of water per dish.   I've also stopped watering my lawn, I don't really care if it turns brown.

What are your appliances like?    If they're ancient you can upgrade a few things that pay back quickly like low flow shower heads.    Otherwise, it doesn't really seem worth it to me to start spending lots of cash to upgrade or having to stare at urine filled toilets to save a couple hundred gallons more.    Just be mindful and only use what you need, sounds like you're doing a good job.

sedura

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 28
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #26 on: July 05, 2014, 11:37:15 PM »
Not sure about how to solve your problem, but I can tell you how not to make it worse. Do NOT buy your twin toddlers a water table. I swear, our bill has gone up 10%

panthalassa

  • 5 O'Clock Shadow
  • *
  • Posts: 29
  • Age: 38
  • Location: Canada
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #27 on: July 06, 2014, 03:52:05 AM »
I don't know about you but for me, getting rid of a roommate!  The last guy I had quadrupled my usage. 

Greg

  • Handlebar Stache
  • *****
  • Posts: 1448
  • Location: Olympia, WA, USA
Re: Water Usage: How to lower it?
« Reply #28 on: July 07, 2014, 12:32:48 PM »
In addition to flow reducing aerators at your sinks, try this:  Open the faucet to full flow hot or cold, then adjust that angle stop under the sink until the flow is less, adjust it to the minimum needed for washing/rinsing hands/toothbrush etc.

This way, you can use less without having to think about it.  Might not work on your kitchen sink faucet if it also has a sprayer hose, as they often need full flow to switch.