Water Conservation Techniques

At my last apartment, I didn't have to pay for water, hot or otherwise. This caused me to become complacent. While I never ran the dishwasher unless it was full, I took long showers sometimes and occasionally left the water running when I brushed my teeth. In the new house, I'm trying to reel all that in. Here's some of the stuff I've done so far:

1) I fill a little glass with water to rinse after brushing my teeth instead of inefficiently scooping water from the tap like I usually do.

2) I only shower every other day, and turn the water off when I shave or shampoo my hair. (Note: this was not as cold or horrible as I expected this morning and I'm the woman who keeps the heat at 54 degrees!)

3) Anytime I need to wait for the water to heat up at the sink, I put the cold water in a container and use it to water the plants. (Lately I've been using these big beer bottles from our last homemade batch; foder for another post.)

4) I'm saving pasta water for the same reason, though I'm uncertain if the starch is at all harmful to the plants and need to do a bit more research on that.

Holy Crap, Utilities!!!!

At my last apartment I didn't ever get my utility bills. In fact, I was annoyed by having to pay a flat rate because I thought there was no incentive to conserve.

But YIKES!! In my new house, water is extremely expensive; electricity is more than I thought it would be; even garbage adds up! The first 2 months we were here, we left a lot of lights on (some of us are scared of the dark; some of us are lazy), most of us showered once a day, and I know one roommate in particular is extremely fond of long and frequent baths. We also discovered that we've been wasting water unknowingly every morning because our automatic sprinkler goes on at 6 am rain or shine.

Here are the steps I'm taking to deal with this:

1) Only showering every other day (this is tough because earth-friendly shampoo is not as effective at de-greasing the hair, but i'll get a hat.)
2) Turning off (I think...) the sprinkler system and letting the grass look crappy.
3) Going back to my rule of using natural light whenever possible and always turning the light out when leaving the room.
4) Engaging in heat wars with my roommates so the heater isn't always on (at least not in October!)

It's tougher to conserve when you live with others: stuff adds up fast, and it's a little awkward to pester them about changing their own behavior. But I'll do what I can. I'll see if next month's bills are any lower.

Saving water (and money) in the kitchen

Yeah, I take shorter showers, but I still use a ton of water. I’ve been thinking about water a lot lately; specifically cooking liquid and how much of that stuff I toss down the drain. So here are a few ideas I had about saving stuff and using it twice:

Using the liquid from steamed veggies as stock to cook dried beans in. Anyone know if I can do the same with pasta water? I have a sneaking suspicion that the starch will mess things up.

Reserve whey after making cheese and use it for bread making. It’ll last a few days in the fridge, but it’s best used right away and still hot. I gave the recipe for this a while ago.

If I boil too much water for tea, use it to poor over the stove and loosen gunk without degreaser. (I suppose you could just boil it again next time, but I’ve been taught that makes bad tea. And you have to heat it twice anyway.)

I clean off a LOT of veggies daily. I can't use the dirt-filled water for much, but maybe I should catch it and use it to soak pots and pans. Or water the plants outside.

Got any other suggestions? I don’t see any money saved because of the set-rate utility thing, but one day I will leave this apartment for greener pastures where it matters. Best get accustomed now.

PET PEEVE: Paying for "Safer" Water

If another person tells me to stop drinking from the water fountain because it’s dirty I think I’m going to beat them to death with their Aquafina bottles! YES I KNOW IT’S DIRTY! But until middle class citizens insist it be clean – and do so by using the tap – it won’t be! Unless you’ve been living in a cave you’ve heard about how evil bottled water is, but since I still see it EVERYWHERE I feel ok about posting this. What's that advertising adage about repetition, repetition, repetition?...

The water in Boulder tastes great, as did it in NYC. Bottled water isn’t just environmentally irresponsible; it’s less safe and WAY more expensive.

Facts that get under my skin:

1) The HEATH MYTH: A ton of the bottled water out there is just taken from municipal water supplies and then filtered. Even the spring water is clearly affected by our global pollution – no ecosystem goes untouched by human irresponsibility!
2) THE TOXINS: The plastics used in water bottles are made to be disposable – meaning that the chemicals leech into the water. This gets worse if we try to do the right thing by reusing the bottles or if they’re exposed to the sun (in say, the back of a hot car.)
3) THE TRAVEL: Shipping water is RIDICULOUS in places that have their own water supply! Why would we allow the extra production and transportation costs? Take the trendy Fiji Water, for example. Yes, that sticker on the bottle is pretty, but FIJI?? REALLY? Do you know how far away Fiji is? In fact, it’s far away locale is one of the marketing ploys the company uses, as though ANYWHERE on this planet has escaped pollution and degradation at human hands. For those who argue that Fiji Water is helping an impoverished economy, don’t fool yourself. Yes, all things considered they are a fairly responsible company (now) and make attempts to give back to their workforce, but this is largely in response to the P.R. problem they encountered a while back when it was pointed out that half of the citizens of Fiji didn’t have reliable drinking water. Fiji Water claims to be Carbon Neutral in 2008. Not buying it. You can’t negate the greenhouse gases emitted during production and transportation by buying carbon credits!
4) The GREENWASHING: Just because Evian spring water comes from nature originally (like all water...) doesn’t mean it’s Green, as their advertisements of naked women flailing about in snowdrifts would have you imagine. NO bottled water is the green choice!
5) The WASTE: For those who recycle their water bottles, that’s fabulous. But not enough. Companies are trying to cut down on the amount of plastic used in the bottles. Still not enough. Over 30 MILLION plastic water bottles end up in the landfill EVERY DAY!
6) The COST: Turning on the tap costs pennies. Drinking from a fountain is free (for you anyway.) If the additives in tap water freak you out, get a filter! Still cheaper then the 5-10 cents per ounce depending on brand you pay for the bottled variety. Even buying a metal water bottle (the SIGG bottles are mega-cute but pricey – around 20 bucks) pays for itself in a few weeks if you were a tried and true bottled water addict before.

Sign the Take Back the Tap Pledge !

PET PEEVE: Flat-Rate Utilities!!

Like many in the under-twenty five bracket, I live in an apartment. It used to be NYC tenement apartments, now it’s Boulder house-converted-to-five-apartments apartments. Lots of things about my new city are different: the threat of mountain lions, the diseased prairie dogs, the unabashed hippies. But one of the most annoying things about apartment living still stands at the new address: I GET NO PRICE BREAK IF I CONSERVE UTILITIES!!!!!

I have “free” gas for the stove, “free” water, “free” garbage collection, and “free” power. By free of course, I mean it’s included in my rent already. So when I make a concentrated effort to turn my radiant heat down below 70, I don’t see another penny. When I turn off the power strip or unplug my phone charger when it’s not in use, I don’t earn quarters toward Friday night beers. IT DOESN’T MAKE A DAMNED BIT OF DIFFERENCE. So then, why should I bother? The stick-it-to-the-man part of my brain wants to turn the heat up to 90 degrees and wander around naked all winter just because I can and it costs the landlady money, not me.

I realize this doesn’t really matter to those of you who own your own homes, but as the economy gets more and more caustic, that is happening later and later in life for people.