The Realities of the CA Drought and Our Shaving Habits
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I've already got an idea involving ships travelling around the open ocean purifying saltwater and offloading them in the Port of LA/Long Beach. If someone has the capital to have one built, I'll drive it for them!
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Hi everyone, sorry to resurrect this old thread, but...
Thanks to you all here, I've been able to DRASTICALLY reduce my wet-shave water usage! I started by using a small gladware food container (you know, the kind that you get pre-sliced deli meat in and such), then scaled it down slowly. Now I'm using an old Tailor Of Old Bond Street shaving cream container to hold my soap water (approx 1 cup) which I also use to shake my razor off between strokes. It takes about another cup of water to rinse that out, and one more cup to rinse off my razor and face.
All in all, I'd say I use about 3 cups of water, or an 80% reduction compared to my original ~1 gallon estimation.
Next up: Piping my washing machine drain into a greywater recovery system!
Thanks to you all here, I've been able to DRASTICALLY reduce my wet-shave water usage! I started by using a small gladware food container (you know, the kind that you get pre-sliced deli meat in and such), then scaled it down slowly. Now I'm using an old Tailor Of Old Bond Street shaving cream container to hold my soap water (approx 1 cup) which I also use to shake my razor off between strokes. It takes about another cup of water to rinse that out, and one more cup to rinse off my razor and face.
All in all, I'd say I use about 3 cups of water, or an 80% reduction compared to my original ~1 gallon estimation.
Next up: Piping my washing machine drain into a greywater recovery system!
No need to apologize! As soon as I heard about the mandatory 25% reduction, I thought about starting a similar thread, but I was new enough to B&B that I didn't want to rock the boat - and I wasn't prepared with neutral phrasing like you were. THANK you for starting the thread.
I have taken to using a 5-gallon bucket to catch run-off as the shower warms up and I have the warm-up dialed in. There's minimal waste and the caught water goes to my climbing vines. I can't remember the last time that my front sprinklers were on, but I live near a strait and so there's at least a little water drifting around overnight. My back lawn is watered once per week so that my dogs don't poop in a desert and so that my son has somewhere to play. The cycles are short, and the "grass" is mostly water-independent weeds, anyway!
I've been following the "yellow/brown" rule at home and have taught my young son the same. When we wash our hands or brush our teeth, we don't let the water run. Where I know that I can do a better job with conservation is in the shower. My sig-O is a champ - her showers take three minutes or less, and she's not THAT small! I've cut my showers down to eight minutes, but I'm sure I could get to half of that and still feel clean.
For shaving, I feel like I'm doing it right. I stopper the sink and turn on the hot water. By the time it's half-full, the water from the tap is hot (enough) for my brush-soaking cup and blooming the soap. All that soaks while I'm in the shower and the sink cools off. I'm not cold-water shaving, but I'm definitely tepid-water shaving. My shaves are two-pass at best, with a quick cold-water rinse in between...and that water is in the sink. I guess the next step is to put a bowl in the sink to capture that water, too. Every little bit helps.
With all that said, it really does come down to what Corporate California is willing - or is forced - to do. Keeping the company campus green just doesn't make sense! Personal usage affects the issue, sure, but the scale of usage by Big Farming, Little Farming, Corporate California and the Golf industry far overshadows what relatively little impact we can have with our gyrations.
Anyway, again, thanks for starting the thread. If nothing else, it's sparked good conversation and some interesting ideas.
I have taken to using a 5-gallon bucket to catch run-off as the shower warms up and I have the warm-up dialed in. There's minimal waste and the caught water goes to my climbing vines. I can't remember the last time that my front sprinklers were on, but I live near a strait and so there's at least a little water drifting around overnight. My back lawn is watered once per week so that my dogs don't poop in a desert and so that my son has somewhere to play. The cycles are short, and the "grass" is mostly water-independent weeds, anyway!
I've been following the "yellow/brown" rule at home and have taught my young son the same. When we wash our hands or brush our teeth, we don't let the water run. Where I know that I can do a better job with conservation is in the shower. My sig-O is a champ - her showers take three minutes or less, and she's not THAT small! I've cut my showers down to eight minutes, but I'm sure I could get to half of that and still feel clean.
For shaving, I feel like I'm doing it right. I stopper the sink and turn on the hot water. By the time it's half-full, the water from the tap is hot (enough) for my brush-soaking cup and blooming the soap. All that soaks while I'm in the shower and the sink cools off. I'm not cold-water shaving, but I'm definitely tepid-water shaving. My shaves are two-pass at best, with a quick cold-water rinse in between...and that water is in the sink. I guess the next step is to put a bowl in the sink to capture that water, too. Every little bit helps.
With all that said, it really does come down to what Corporate California is willing - or is forced - to do. Keeping the company campus green just doesn't make sense! Personal usage affects the issue, sure, but the scale of usage by Big Farming, Little Farming, Corporate California and the Golf industry far overshadows what relatively little impact we can have with our gyrations.
Anyway, again, thanks for starting the thread. If nothing else, it's sparked good conversation and some interesting ideas.
Not exactly sure what your implying here but what is it you expect the farmers to do, stop restocking the shelves of your local super market with fresh fruit and vegetables for your healthy diet? I think that the water I save would be best used to put food on my table!
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Nope, not at all. I said "scale of usage", not "scale of waste". There's a difference, which I suspect you know.
Farmers are among the hardest hit. Thousands upon thousands of acres have been fallowed, with more to come. If there's a change to be made in the food industry or in corporate circles, with the intent of maximizing our food output while minimizing our water usage, I have opinions about where we should look...but that wasn't the point of this thread.
Anyhoo, instead on pouncing on one tiny, out-of-context bit of my post, how 'bout giving us some ideas of other ways to conserve water?
How bout we pass a bill outlawing bottled water and go back to drinking it out of the tap, just as a rapid fire idea of the top of my head.
Oh and how about we ask the Government to stop subsidizing water to grow cotton in the middle of the AZ desert and send it to grow food anywhere. Cotton crops require 10 times the amount of water as lettuce and lettuce is one of the highest water useage everyday vegetable crops.
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And I am a golfer but agree with you 100% that it is a big waste of water, I'd gladly give up Golf to eat, drink, shower or shave.
Look to your government, for the water shortage in the farming industries. They would rather save a minnow, than let the farmers survive. Cotton farming in Arizona? That's funny. I hope some politician, or his family members, are making some money on that deal.
You folks in California can come to Texas, set up shop, and use all the water you want. We have a little extra water, and we are allowed to take long hot showers, without the water police coming after us.
Texas: lower taxes, lots of water, non restrictive laws, lower housing prices.
You folks in California can come to Texas, set up shop, and use all the water you want. We have a little extra water, and we are allowed to take long hot showers, without the water police coming after us.
Texas: lower taxes, lots of water, non restrictive laws, lower housing prices.
I love it. 25% reduction, but the lawns of the rich and famous still look beautiful and green. With all do respect, spare me.
It would be interesting to see what would happen if the Munis started cutting off the water to those who fail to comply. No water shortages here in Ontario, but I have always taken "Navy" showers. Uses very little water overall, and I am just as clean as my daughter and her 20 minute deluges.
Convince everyone to stop visiting Vegas. How much water goes to that den of debauchery?
Sir, I hope you know that cotton grows during the fall and winter in AZ when the rain comes.
I honestly wouldn't be suprised if they did. [emoji2]
And how much rain are you getting, enough to grow cotton?
As mentioned - don't fill the basin, rinse razor in a small bowl - works perfectly fine.
Quick face rinse from the tap after each pass.
Pretty sure this uses less than filling the sink half way? I could be wrong...
Living in CO, where our reservoirs are overflowing from all the rain this spring. CA gets some of it's water from the CO River, so its coming your way!
I am on a well, so always try to mind my water usage.
Quick face rinse from the tap after each pass.
Pretty sure this uses less than filling the sink half way? I could be wrong...
Living in CO, where our reservoirs are overflowing from all the rain this spring. CA gets some of it's water from the CO River, so its coming your way!
I am on a well, so always try to mind my water usage.
The stalling of CA desalination has little or nothing to do with those evil rich people. Using the now-under-construction world's largest plant as an example, most of the 14 impeding lawsuits have been from environmental groups. They are the same people who parade "no blood for oil" bumper stickers on their11 MPG SUVs. They'll never stop shedding crocodile tears for all the fish that will supposedly be killed unless and until they themselves are dying of thirst, or at least there is no water left for their hydrotherapy tubs.
http://www.mercurynews.com/science/...argest-ocean-desalination-plant-goes-up-near#
In any case, pointing fingers at some hated whipping-boy group, like the left-coast practice of parroting the old "blame the rich" mantra, is nearly always an oversimplification. Desalination has long seen improving technology, but compared to other means of getting water it is still slow, cumbersome, and expensive. Just google "how expensive is desalination". That does not make desalination impossible. It simply means that as long as there are cheaper means to get water, those means are far more practical for satisfying the voracious appetite for water, which averages 360 gallons per single-family household per day in the state according to a 2011 study by the California Department of Water Resources. Desalination costs $2000 to $3000 per acre-foot (subject to extreme overruns that would be much higher), which is triple the cheapest price provided to bulk agricultural users.
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