Save Water & Energy During a Drought
Summer’s finally here and the weather’s heating up fast. With a massive heat wave sweeping over the Western United States, many are experiencing the devastating effects of Climate Change & Global Warming firsthand. Here in California, the usual drought that’s experienced all year long is at a worrying peak, with over 85% of California being in an extreme drought. Not only does the heat and drought affect everyday people, it also increases an already high threat of fire danger, flash floods, crop & wildlife damage, and leads to large scale rolling blackouts & power grid failures. While it’s hard to do much about the increasingly extreme weather changes, here are a few things that you can do to make your home more drought friendly.
Reduce Water Usage
As most of us have easy access to clean running water, it’s easy to forget that this water is a finite resource. One of the easiest changes to make in your life is to simply turn off the water when you’re not using it. While washing dishes, scrubbing hands, and brushing teeth, there’s no reason that the water has to be running constantly when it’s not being used. Simply turn on the tap when you need water (& only on as high as you need it), and turn it off when you don’t.
While taking a long shower is nice and relaxing, it also uses a huge amount of water. A 2016 study by the Water Research Foundation found that the “average shower uses roughly 17 gallons of water and lasts for around eight minutes” (Portland.gov). The EPA reports that showers account for 17% of the indoor water used in a residential home, which can add up to 40 gallons a day for the average family. The easiest way to reduce this usage is to reduce your time in the shower. Try limiting showers to 5 minutes a day, set a timer or put on your favorite song, then turn the water off when it ends. Additionally, you can apply the same principle for sinks to showers as well. Turn on the water when you need it, for dampening and rinsing, and turn it off when you don’t, like whilst shampooing, shaving, or lathering.
Toilets are another area where you can greatly reduce your water usage. The EPA reports that toilets make up 30% of the average home’s indoor water usage, and that older inefficient toilets can use up to 6 gallons per flush! One way to combat this is to simply flush your toilet less. Ever heard the phrase “if it’s yellow, let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down”? While it may seem off putting at first, it’s an incredibly easy way to reduce your water usage. Having urine in a toilet is nothing to be afraid of, after all, that’s where it should be anyway. Just lower the toilet lid and there’s absolutely no unwanted odors to worry about. If you live by yourself or have your own bathroom, you’re the only one who will know. And if you live with your family, close friends, or significant other, there’s no shame in expressing your commitment to reducing your water usage (and everyone’s water bill).
Collect Greywater
Another simple way to save water is to start collecting greywater. Greywater is the wastewater produced by sinks, showers & bathtubs, dishwashers, and laundry machines. It should not be confused with Blackwater, which is the wastewater from toilets that contain feces or urine, and is considered a contaminant. The greywater can be easily collected from your kitchen sinks and showers, and repurposed for watering plants & gardens, running the garbage disposal, and even to help fill up the back of toilet tanks.
The easiest way to collect this greywater is to find a bucket, small tub, or pail to place into your showers and sinks. A 5 gallon bucket is the perfect size for putting in your shower, allowing it to collect water as your shower heats up or while in use. Just be sure to remember it’s there so you don’t trip over it. These 5 gallon buckets can easily be found at any hardware store, or find one second hand at a local sandwich shop (ask for any leftover pickle buckets) or even at your local refillery! And this standing water comes in handy when shaving, just rinse the razor in the bucket rather than having the sink faucet or shower running the whole time.
For your kitchen, you can reuse an old storage tub that fits into the sink to collect water. When washing dishes, rinse over this bucket to collect the soapy water. Similarly, you can collect water from rinsing off fruits and vegetables, dishes for the dishwasher, washing hands, or rinsing the starch off rice or other grains. The standing tub of water can also help remove stuck-on food from frying pans and dishes, as well as those pesky labels on reusable glass jars. Just allow the dish or jar to soak in the water for a few minutes or hours, and it should come off easily, without wasting a ton of water or effort. Use this water for watering plants & trees outside, or for running the garbage disposal. Any bits of food in the tub (like coffee grounds) won’t be a problem at all, as they’ll decompose and add key nutrients to the soil of whatever plants you’re watering. Just be sure to avoid giving any heavily salted water to plants, like pasta or potato water, as the heavy salt concentration may actually harm the plants.
If you’re really dedicated, consider setting up a professional greywater system in your home. This would require regular & consistent use of the greywater, as well as altering the water pipes and a bit of upkeep, but can collect all the discarded water from sinks, showers, and washing machines. Be sure to consult professionals before altering any pipework around your home! If you’re interested in learning more about greywater and greywater systems, check out the Santa Barbara County Greywater Handbook. It’s an amazing resource that can help you learn almost anything there is to know about greywater & it’s environmental benefits!
Gardening & Landscaping
A huge part of conserving water usage during a drought & heatwave is to reduce the water used for landscaping and gardening. If you’re looking to save water, a good place to start is by looking at your lawn. While those luscious & full green lawns look cheerful and homey, they guzzle up huge amounts of water. Turn off any automated sprinklers (especially if they water the sidewalk more than the actual lawn) and consider watering every few days instead of daily, or letting the grass turn brown and die back during the summer. It’ll come back during the cooler or rainier months, saving you a ton of time and money on water bills and upkeep. You could even replace your lawn altogether with some drought-friendly plants, succulents & cacti, a hearty ground cover, rocks & gravel, or a vegetable garden!
Speaking of gardening, it’s a great (& delicious) way to reduce your water usage. While it’s true that these plants do take a fair amount of water to grow and produce their fruits, vegetables, and herbs, it’s incredibly worthwhile. And many crops & herbs can be regrown from scraps or propagated, making a truly zero waste garden! You can utilize the greywater collected from your sinks and showers to water them. Watering plants in the morning while it’s cool lessens the amount of water lost to evaporation, and allows the plants to absorb the water before the sunny heat kicks in. If you add mulch to the base of the plants or use your own homemade compost, it will increase the water retention of the soil, meaning even less water will be lost to evaporation. Not to mention, growing your own food at home will greatly reduce the amount of carbon emissions produced on commercial farms, where the crops are picked, processed, packaged, and transported all before reaching you. During all this time, the fresh foods can lose much of their freshness and nutritional benefits, and fresher canned foods often lead to large amounts of CO2 emissions being generated in transportation. By having your own garden, whether it be a large-scale backyard farm or an apartment-friendly planter box, the crops can be harvested and enjoyed whenever you like without all the carbon emissions!
Just because there’s a drought doesn’t mean that all of your plants, trees, and vegetation have to end up dried and dead. Plants are actually vital to preventing excessive heat and maintaining a regular temperature. Heat Island is a term used to describe an urban area with higher temperatures than surrounding areas, due to little to no plant life being found. In these Heat Islands, “structures such as buildings, roads, and other infrastructure absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat more than natural landscapes such as forests and water bodies” (EPA). This radiating heat causes temperature increases of 1-7°F in the daytime and 2-5°F at night time from the surrounding areas (EPA). Plants & vegetation can significantly decrease the amount of heat being radiated in these areas, as well as providing cooling shade, increasing overall air quality, and reducing street & pavement damage. If you live in a city that’s in need of some more greenery, consider reaching out to a local city councilor and propose a tree-planting project or even starting up a community garden.
Reducing Energy Usage
While you’re starting to conserve water more and more, it’s a great time to start thinking about the energy that you use too! Summertime and heatwaves are notorious for the large power usage, so much so that rolling blackouts and large-scale power outages are becoming more common. And as these droughts greatly reduce the amount of hydroelectric energy available due to dried up rivers & lakes, states & counties become much more reliant on energy harmful coal & gas burning power plants. The best way to help combat the blackouts & harmful energy production is to do your part and help reduce the energy that you’re using.
The easiest thing you can do to lower your energy usage is to only draw energy for the things you’re actively using. Try unplugging any appliances & chargers that you’re not using, as these can still be using energy even while sitting idle. Turn off the lights in any rooms that you aren’t in, or just don’t turn on the lights at all. If it’s light outside and there’s a window, there should be enough ambient lighting to still see what you’re doing. And try turning down the water heater if you can, cooler showers sound much more appealing when it’s in the 90s or 100s outside anyway.
Another huge way to start reducing your energy usage is to turn down the air conditioning. The US Department of Energy estimates that air conditioners alone use up 6% of all energy produced in the US, resulting in “roughly 117 million metric tons of carbon dioxide are released into the air each year”. Start by only turning your AC on when necessary, and utilize fans and cool nighttime temperatures whenever possible. If it cools down at night, open up your windows and allow the cooler air in, then close them back up in the morning before it gets too hot. During the day, try to keep the windows and doors shut to save the cool air inside, and be sure to close the shades if the sunlight & heat starts beating in. Depending on where you live, you may still need the AC on most of the time, so try setting it to a slightly higher temperature than you normally would, and turning it off when the temperature is manageable.
Appliances also kick out a lot of heat, so try only using them at nighttime when the temperatures drop. Try loading your dishwashers & laundry machines so they’ll be ready to go when local power rates drop and the temperature cools off. For anything that kicks out a lot of heat, like toaster ovens, hair dryers, or electric kettles, try using them outside if possible. That way, you can still use them without heating up the inside. Try planning ahead and meal prepping or using the oven at nighttime, and microwaving your meals the next day so you won’t have to heat up the whole house. And if the heat is good for one thing, it’s for drying out laundry! You can install a clothesline in your yard or balcony, or pick up a collapsible drying rack and let your laundry air dry inside or outside. We’ve had the same retractable laundry line for over 12 years now, and even with constant use, it’s still going strong! Not only is this far better for the environment than running a dryer, it’ll save you money, reduce energy usage, and help keep your home cooler.
If you’re in the market for new lighting or appliances, consider shifting to an energy efficient version. Some of these new appliances can do the same job with a fraction of the energy usage, heat output, and water usage as older versions. As buying used goods is the best thing to do for the environment, try to look for used (yet still energy efficient) appliances if possible. But as not everything is available second hand or in an economical & efficient version, the newer energy saving appliances are the way to go.
Most power companies have some form of “Peak Pricing” when energy rates go up in the late afternoon & early evening. The increase in pricing is due to an increased demand for energy, as many people start turning on lights, television, stoves, etc., all while the amount of solar & wind energy available is decreasing due to the setting sun. Check your local provider’s policies to avoid energy price increases. And if you’re looking for a way to drop your energy provider altogether, try installing solar panels! These panels are a great way to have greener energy with less carbon emissions, and reduce or eliminate power bills altogether. Learn if solar panels are a practical option for your home, and get started collecting your own energy!
For more ways to save energy and lower your carbon footprint, check out our latest article!
