Those of us who use “city” water want to save money by
saving water because the amount we pay for our monthly water bill keeps going
up.
There are a couple of reasons why the cost of water is headed
up. The ever increasing cost of energy to pump the water is part of the
problem.
The other reason that water bills are going up is the
increasing cost of operating wastewater treatment plants. For most of us, our
water meters are used to bill us twice. Once for the amount of water used and a
second time to bill us for sewage.
The sewer part of the bill is likely to be more than twice
as expensive as the water portion of the bill. The rising cost of electrical
power to operate the water treatment equipment is part of the problem, but so
is the cost to meet the ever increasing burden of government regulations.
Those of you who are lucky enough to live outside of an
area served by a city water system have to pay for your own water supply and
waste treatment system. A major part of your electric bill is for power to run
a well pump.
If you have well water and a septic system you may not
experience a monthly bill the way city folks do. From personal experience I
know you should be setting money aside monthly to maintain you private water
works.
When the cost of fixing you water well or septic system
hits, it can take a big chunk of your savings account to get it all working
again. The less water you use in your day to day life the less often you will
have those big maintenance bills.
So
How Do I Save Water?
I waste water. How is that for a confession? I grew up
and still live in the part of the USA where the Great Lakes are the major
geographical feature. According to the EPA, the Great Lakes hold about 21% of the world’s fresh water
or 84% of the fresh water in the USA. I have been spoiled with that
abundance of fresh water.
I know folks who live in dry states that think I commit
major crimes because of my water wasteful ways. Their bathroom rule of “if it
is yellow let it mellow, if it is brown flush it down” does save water, but I
don’t like it.
Some relatively small changes in the way you do things
at home can reduce your water use.
I have volunteered to stop shaving to save water, but
my wife won’t let me. Every day, I need to remind myself to shave using only a
wash basin full of hot water rather than just letting the hot water flow
continuously.
Long showers are a luxury that I indulge in only when I
am staying at a hotel. Never at home where I pay the energy and water bills. I
figure that if I am paying the bill for a hotel I should get my monies worth of
hot water.
I like the idea of saving water by bathing with a
friend. But, those showers tend to take a lot longer and use more water than
usual.
If you use a dish washing machine it uses about the
same amount of water and energy whether it is a small load or a full load of
dirty dishes. So it saves you money to do full loads only.
The same idea applies to the clothes washer. If you
absolutely need to do a small load of clothes be sure you adjust the water
level to avoid wasting water.
Don’t let the men folk help wash dishes by hand. They
tend to start water battles that waste water. Unless you are very frugal with
hand washing your dish washing machine will use less water.
Don’t put more water in the tea kettle
than your tea
pot will hold.
Don’t drown them in excess water when boiling vegetables.
Better yet, steam those vegetables. Steaming uses far less water and doesn’t
wash away as many nutriments.
I water flowers and the vegetable garden in the late evening
so it soaks in before evaporating.
I avoid watering the grass because that just makes it
grow and then I will need to be mowed sooner.
If you really want to water the grass make the water do
double duty by parking your car on the lawn and washing the car. Wash the car
and water the grass with the same water.
Click here for a free money saving report written by the Energy Boomer titled HOW SAVE MONEY ON YOUR NEXT HEATING BILL







