Tag Archives: water

Water saving tips

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What is common between the beach, the pool , cold showers and lemonades ?

Water !

Even though water seems like it is an unlimited resource, is in reality a limited resource because there are no known new sources of water. Americans consume about 150 gallons of water every day, which is twice the world average. Water needs energy to be transported and has a huge environmental impact. More water required means more dams and reservoirs, which in turn means more damage to marine habitat.

Check out National Geographic’s water footprint calculator to discover how you use water and calculate your footprint.

Here are things you can do to conserve water and do your part to save the environment :
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Go here for more products that help conserve water.

Fun Facts

  • Running a cold-water faucet for 5 minutes uses as much energy as letting a 60-W bulb run for a week !
  • Water supply and treatment facilities consume about 56 bn KWh per year, which is equivalent to powering 5 million homes for an entire year !
 Save water, save energy, save the planet


New Coalition Advocates for Great Waters Across the Country

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Rock Jetty in Narragansett Bay

A rock jetty on the Narragansett Bay in North Kingston, Rhode Island

They may not be the Great Lakes, but stewards of bodies of fresh and salt water in the United States are joining together to form America’s Great Waters Coalition. Recently Narragansett Bay and other southern New England waterways joined the advocacy organization, which looks to improve the water quality of its members among other goals. The organization came to be after funding for water issues across the country started to disappear amidst the financial crisis.

So far, there are 19 members across 35 different states. Organizers looked to the Great Lakes for inspiration, given that Congress set aside $475 billion for restoration and conservation of the five Great Lakes. Working as a coalition seems to be the way to go, given the success of the Great Lakes. The money won’t be easy; as one study suggested a $3 billion investment would be required for a healthy ecosystem in the Gulf of Maine. Still, the group has argued for dozens of restoration measures and other water projects before Congress, as well as worked on court briefs for water issues that ended up before state and federal courts.

Peter Alexender, director of the Northeast Great Water Coalition pointed out that if there are not enough programs and funding to support water quality and habitat restoration, there could be “dramatic economic costs.” Once again, it is being said that environmental issues, if not dealt with effectively, can have harsh economic consequences. Something that should always be kept in mind when considering any environmental issue.

Drink Local, Hike Local too

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Stonybrook State Park by Harvest ZhangCCTV blogger Karen Klinger has an interesting write-up of her stroll around the birthplace of your drinking water last Monday evening. Should you find the tale inspiring, you have two more chances to take part in a guided tour of the upper watershed, and three of Fresh pond. If you attend, or otherwise visit Fresh Pond check out some of the interesting 1) public 2) art versions of the watershed map:

Map of the Cambridge drinking water watershed

How does your garden grow?

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Jen's hands by jbrownell

April is National Garden Month, so get out there and get grubby! It’s an excellent way to get some Vitamin D, and fresh produce. Larger plantings or vines may also shade your home from the brutal sun of summer.

If you don’t have a yard, consider container gardening or applying for a plot in a community garden. Either way, you may want to take advantage of the city’s annual rain barrel sale so that you can water your plants with no-cost chlorine-free water. You can also feed your plants for free with compost available during normal recycling center hours (T&R 4–7:30PM and S 9–4PM) thanks to the city’s compost program and the local businesses and homeowners who contribute their food waste.

If you are lucky enough to have a yard, consider seeking Backyard Wildlife Habitat certification from the NWF. You should also have you soil tested for lead, especially if you plant to grow any root vegetables, herbs or leafy greens for the table. UMass Amherst offers a low-cost “standard test” which will warn you of any problems with lead, as well as provide information about basic plant nutrient levels.

To learn more about the stuff you’ll playing in for the next few months check out Dirt! The trailer is below, and if you missed the recent showing at the Boston Public Library, it will be playing on WGBH soon during Independent Lens. It is currently scheduled for April 20th at 10PM, but will certainly be repeated a few times afterward.

Converting to a Dual-Flush Toilet

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No, we didn’t get a new toilet. We converted our old one with a One2flush kit. Turning the handle one way makes a half flush and turning it the other makes a full flush. And it’s easy to increase or decrease the water levels of both of them if necessary by adjusting the settings on the flapper.

Our toilet was already a modern, low-flow toilet, using just 1.6 gallons of water per flush. But you really don’t need 1.6 gallons for every flush. That’s now the default setting for the full flush, and 0.8 gallons is the default setting for the half flush, but we’ll have to continue playing around with the water levels to figure out what’s the least amount that we can use.

The kit was relatively simple to install—you can tell by the fact that two very non-handy people did it without flooding the bathroom. Taking the toilet tank off was obviously terrifying, and a little difficult, too, because the bolts were corroded. But this video walked us through the whole thing step by step.

We did run into one problem when we were done. The fill valve continued to allow a steady trickle of water through, even when the tank was already full. We were afraid we’d have to replace the whole fill valve (or shamefacedly ask our landlord to do it), but cleaning the valve did the trick.

The problem? The previous tenants had put bricks in the toilet tank to save water. The bricks had started to degrade in the water, and brick dust had gotten into the valve. This is why people now emphasize that if you want to displace water in your toilet, use a bottle of water—don’t use [unprotected] bricks!

Cross-posted on pragmaticenvironmentalism.com

IBM survey suggests awareness is not enough

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Japanese tea pot A recent study conducted by IBM in Great Britain uncovered some non-intuitive trends. Although millenials seem to be the most aware of environmental issues in general, they still remain grossly ill-informed about the specifics, and waste more resources than their elders. It seems, having rarely experienced shortages themselves, British youth consume utilities with little consideration while professing eco-consciousness. For instance, approximately half of millenials surveyed waste a dozen or more gallons of water per day by running the shower before use, and not turning off the tap while brushing teeth. More astoundingly, 55% of youth—and 43% of Britons overall—were unable to indicate that a dryer uses more energy than a typical light-bulb!

Frugality is founded on the principle that all riches have limits. – Edmund burke

Unfortunately, conscientious use of resources does seem to correlate more with personal experience of scarcity rather than expressed concern for the environment. So, next time you’re rinsing out your coffee pot, consider using the fluid to brew your next batch, or make flavored ice cubes for an iced coffee. Cooking pasta? Water the garden after draining.

It’s a Thirsty World…

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Clean WaterLiving in Massachusetts, it is easy to take water for granted with an average rain fall of 45 inches per year.  While 2009 might turn out to be an above average year for rainfall, overall the region is expected to experience more frequent drought episodes. But despite the impacts from climate change and falling water tables from unsustainable suburban developments, Massachusetts is lucky in comparison to many other places across the globe like India, Australia, Mexico, Las Vegas, and the story of the week– Greece.

In a warming world, India which has been self sufficient for thousands of years is now deeply challenged on how to feed and provide water for its 1.15 billion inhabitants.  A number of converging factors have forced India to buy food on the International market– the monsoon has been coming later in the season and this year in some districts there is a 60% decrease in rainfall.  The Green revolution has also depleted the water table at 1.6 inches per year, and growing populations are adding to further resource depletion.

Developing countries are not the only places affected by climate change, population pressures, and unsustainable industrial practices.  Las Vegas, the poster child for the housing boom,potentially will have major water shortages by 2012 and plans to lay deeper pipes to keep up with falling Lake Mead.  Georgia on the other hand, was just struck down in the courts for its endless thirst for southern watersheds in Florida and Alabama.

The days of cheap water that is wasted on pristine chemical treated lawns, chlorinated pools, and industrial agriculture might be coming to an end. Over a billion people globally suffer from lack of sufficient clean water, it is estimated by 2025 forty percent of the global population will be short of this precious resource.   Global warming in conjunction with unsustainable water management practices is creating a very insecure world, as Mark Twain noted,

“Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over.”