Teaching the Family about Water Conservation in the age of drought
According to a U.S. Drought Monitor map published by the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 11 states are experiencing extreme drought conditions; New Mexico; Arizona; California; Nevada; Utah; Oregon; Washington; Montana; North Dakota; Colorado; and Wyoming.
If you have lived in these states for a couple of years this shouldn’t be new news but this particular drought is considered a historic mega-drought - on track to become the worst that we've seen in at least 1,200 years. It will strain state's electrical grids and dry up water supplies. In CA water levels are 50% lower than normal at more than 1,500 reservoirs statewide. Given that 25% of the nation's food is grown in California, extreme droughts could decimate crops like avocados and almonds and affect people nation wide
On Thursday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom asked residents (and also agriculture and private sector) in most of CA ( 5 counties including LA are not under a regional drought state of emergency BuT should still cut back) to voluntarily to cut back on their water usage by 15%. While the average Californian’s home water use is actually down in the last couple of years (and while Statewide, average water use is roughly 50% environmental, 40% agricultural, and 10% urban), This got me thinking: how do we cut back and also teach our kids lifelong water conservation habits?
Here are some things we can all - even young children!- do at home to cut back on our water usage-
Bathroom
Turn water off while brushing teeth. If you are teaching kids how to brush teeth- include turning off the faucet in one of the steps in their routine.
During bath time or showers consider keeping a bucket nearby to collect water and use it to flush toilets, or irrigate the lawn.
If bathing: use less water. A single person’s half-full bathtub (roughly 12 gallons of water saved per bath). If showering: keep showers to 5 minutes ( roughly 12.5 gallons of water saved per shower when using a water-efficient shower head) … you can always tell older kids that if they shower quickly they have more time to play
And while on the topic of showers: kids- particularly babies dont really need daily baths. Too much time in the bathtub can dry out their skin… perhaps during summer showers are essential- but maybe in winter every other day works fine. This is on a case by case basis
Be vigilant about leaks! Not only can they lead to water damage and mold but they waste so much water
Kitchen
Washing machines tend to use less water than hand washing. If you are hand washing: turn off the water while you scrub the plates with soap and then rinse all at the same time
Only run dishwashing machines when full
Assign one cup ( or reusable waterbottle) per family member per day. Using multiple cups a day results in more dishes to wash and more water usage
Wash fruits and veggies in a bowl
Reverse osmosis filters are amazing to filter out toxins but they waste a lot of water- take this into consideration before purchasing- esp if you live in a drought prone state. Multi stage carbon based filters can often be wonderful water filters too. If you do have one use flushed out RO water to wash car etc
Outdoors
According to the state, as much as 50% of residential water use goes to outdoor irrigation — much of it wasted.
Transitioning of landscapes to more drought-tolerant landscapes
Use timers and limit them on irrigators and make sure they arent watering sidewalks, and walls
Practice rain water harvesting by Install water collectors around your home
Sources
https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/
https://www.ppic.org/publication/water-use-in-california/