REDUCE WATER WEEK

It's our last week of the No Impact Project! This week was Reduce Water Use week! For tips on how you can reduce your water impact take a look at our other blogs this week!

This week Maria reduced her shower time to 5 minutes. This was nothing new since her travels abroad in Australia included limiting shower time to 4 minutes max. In many other countries it is not strange to have rules limiting shower time. "In some of my friends' host houses they had timers in the shower to remind users to not shower over 4 minutes. After a while, you get used to it, and find that 4 or 5 minutes is plenty of time to get clean."

Aaron feels very strongly about water conservation and offers some interesting quick facts on water use that is usually passed over:

Something commonly ignored in water conservation is the consumptive nature of consumer products For example, a pair of jeans requires over 10,000 liters of water to grow and process the cotton and then manufacture the product itself. A modest-sized steak will consume almost 5,000. Even something as insignificant-seeming as a tea bag consumes about 90 liters of water. Taking short showers might make you feel fuzzy inside, but if you want the most water conservation for your effort, data shows that the larger impact can be had by changing your buying habits.

What I did to reduce my water consumption this week is that I drank only water. This sounds stupid, but according to data, this has a MUCH greater environmental impact than any domestic change I could have made.

So let's talk about some common drinks, and how much water it takes to produce them.

1 liter of soda: 250 liters of water
1 liter of milk: 1000 liters of water
1 liter of coffee: 1100 liters of water
1 liter of beer: 300 liters of water
1 liter of wine: 720 liters of water
(Data derived from here)

To give this some context, the average American uses 300-400 liters of water per day in domestic use. Millions of Americans brew a pot of coffee every morning. And get this: that pot of coffee is THREE TIMES more consumptive of water than all the showering, washing flushing and hosing that person will do for the rest of the day.

A five minute shower uses around 40 liters of water. A can of coke uses more than double that. So which would you rather give up? Two showers, or one can of coke? Which do you think is the more effective way to reduce your water footprint?

Here's an extremely simplified estimation of four drinks I consume regularly in a normal week. By not drinking them this week, here is an approximation of how much water I saved:
5 Cups of coffee forgone: 5500 liters of water saved
3 Cups of tea forgone: 270 liters of water saved
3 Liters of soda forgone: 750 liters of water saved
2 Liters of milk forgone: 2000 liters of water saved

The total water I saved is 8,520 liters in one week. The average domestic American water use is under 3,000 liters per week.

So let me be clear. By giving up coffee, milk, soda and tea, and replacing them with regular tap water, I saved nearly TRIPLE the water that I would have by giving up ALL my domestic water use.

So if I stopped showering, didn't wash my clothes or dishes and didn't water the lawn for 20 days, this would have the same impact as me giving up unnecessary drinks for 7 days. Let that sink in. Which option do you think gives you more environmental benefit for your effort? To me the decision is obvious. I'll give up coffee before showers any day.


Thanks for following USEE's No Impact Summer, make sure to check out our other weeks including No Trash Week, No Consumption Week, Reduce Electricity Week, and Eat Local Week. We hope our trials will inspire you to try some no impact actions of your own!

10 Water Saving Tips

It’s Water Conservation Week!

Utah is a desert! Despite all of the rain and snow we have had this year, we all need to find ways to actively reduce the amount of water we waste, and find ways to make smarter water choices. Saving water is crucial to the health of our environment, and it saves money!

Here are ten tips to help reduce water waste:

1) Slow The Flow

Install a low-flow faucet on each of your faucets and a low-flow shower head in the bathroom. You’ll keep the water pressure high, but reduce your average household water usage by up to 45 gallons a day.

2) Flush Smarter

Toilets flush around 3.5 gallons of water per flush. Only flush when you have to! If you’re building a new home or are considering a remodel, there are many great, environmentally friendly options for dual-flush toilets that conserve water with every flush.

For a DIY low-flow version, place 2 plastic bottles weighed down with pebbles and water inside your toilet tank (away from mechanical parts). Just make sure there are at least 3 gallons of water remaining in the tank so it flushes properly - otherwise you’ll have to flush twice and miss the whole point!

3) Put Less In The Drain

Compost food and vegetable waste instead of using water to flush it down the garbage disposal.

4) Turn It Off

This water conservation tip is an oldie, but a goodie - turn off the tap while brushing your teeth. And when shaving, fill up the sink with a few inches of water to rinse off the blade, instead of keeping the faucet running.

5) Dish Washing

If you have a dishwasher, make sure to only run full loads to make good use of all that water. If you’re washing by hand, fill up the sink to conserve water rather than keep the faucet running.

6) Think Ahead

If you like your drinking water cold, keep a water filter pitcher in the refrigerator rather than running the tap until it gets cold each time. That way you’ll stay hydrated and not waste a drop!

7) Check For Leaks

To check if your toilet is leaking, put a few drops of food coloring in your toilet tank. Wait 15 minutes - if you see color in the toilet bowl without flushing, you have a leak!

8) Designate A Glass

Give each person in your household a designated glass or reusable water bottle, so they don’t grab a new glass each time they want a drink. As an added bonus, you'll seriously cut down on the number of dishes you have to wash!

9) Catch What You Can

Place a bucket in the shower with you or under your rain spout to collect water and reuse it to water your plants and lawn.

1 Grow It Out

Raise your lawnmower blade so it doesn’t cut the grass too short. Longer grass shades the soil, so it holds moisture longer. And when you do water your lawn, make sure it's during the cooler morning or evening hours to minimize evaporation and conserve water.

Also, consider installing a drought resistant landscape in your yard!

No Impact Summer

Inspired by the readings of No Impact Man, USEE has decided to take on a No Impact Summer!! For the next 5 weeks, USEE will be taking a new challenge every week to reduce our impact on the environment. We will be posting the stories of our successes and frustrations as we work through this project. We hope you'll join us in trying some no impact challenges for yourself! Here's what our summer looks like:

Stage 1: July 9-15 NO TRASH WEEK
-Reduce amount of trash, compost, use reusable bags, scrap paper, recycle

Stage 2: July 16-22 NO CONSUMPTION WEEK
-Don't buy anything new that is not food, no extra shopping, try second hand if needed

Stage 3: July 23-29 REDUCE ELECTRICITY WEEK
-Work with the lights off, turn off lights in your house, unplug chargers and appliances

Stage 4: July 30-August 5 EAT LOCAL WEEK
- Buy from the farmers market, get creative, incorporate at least one local food into every meal

Stage 5: August 6-12 SAVE WATER WEEK
-Take shorter showers, turn off water in the sink, hand wash

Keep checking our blog and facebook for posts throughout our journey and feel free to share stories with us about how you are reducing your impact!