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No, I’m not in the family way again.
Re-Nest is one of my favorite “green” blogs. They always have such awesome finds and thought provoking options. One of their most latest posts as got me thinking about our water usage. This is Arizona after all and we need to be more conscious of how we use it.
We have a gravel backyard but I hate it. The whole thing is dirt and rock. This means massive amounts of gravel through my vacuum and dirt bunnies form on every surface within 20 feet of the back door. While we save a ton of water by not having a lawn, part of me still really wants a soft surface in the backyard. I think it would be a place that we all spend more time.
- Wildflower Farm has drought tolerant wildflower mixes, as well as Eco-Lawn which seems like it could be well-suited for even the driest climate.
- Zoysia Farms has a zoysia grass that is also supposed to be able to survive Arizona heat, but needs far less water than conventional grass.
We also still dream of having a pool someday. Not only do they require a large amount of water to begin with, but the evaporation rate is super high here and repairs can lead to draining it often.
- So, I have my eye on one of these swimming “ponds”
- Aren’t they awesome? I don’t know if they would cut the use of water, but at least we wouldn’t be swimming in chlorine or dumping it into the retention basins.
We typically wash our dishes by hand, but that’s mainly because Declan could wash our dishes and get them cleaner than our “inexpensive” old dishwasher can. There have been studies that show that using a dishwasher is more efficient than washing by hand, but not just any dishwasher. It also seems hard to believe that a dishwasher uses less energy and water than a water-conscious manual washer. The only problem is we use a high volume of water handwashing because Declan insists on helping.
Another one of our biggest water wasters is well, Matt. Most of the men in my life have been quick shower-ers. I’m talking like 5 minutes or so. Not Matt. Somehow it takes him 30 minutes to wash the 2 inches of hair on his head. Somedays he takes 2 and 3 showers a day! Even with the 2.5 gpm shower heads, that’s 75 gallons a shower times 3. What I really need is a way to convince everyone to stop using so much water. (Though here I am talking about a swimming pond.)
Anyway, any other water conserving ideas or studies out there?
I may pretend that I update often, but sometimes life gets in the way. By life I mean 2 kids, running daycare, crafting and sleeping. Occasionally I'm just lazy too. Please bear with me. I love my readers!
