Water Log: Day 4 (Thursday 2nd August)

So the day comes when I am exposed in all my grubbiness to someone other than my boyfriend.

Luckily (for them) it is not my old work mates, all 'city girls' who are consistently perfectly groomed. Someone is not feeling well and we reschedule for next week. They chuckle when I tell them about water week saying it's definitely best we rearrange.

Thinking about the arrival of my boyfriend's sister, I'm concerned the flat is a mess. We usually have a cleaner on Wednesdays, but unable to control her water usage and feeling hypocritical about someone else sorting out my mess, I cancelled.

I start on a water free cleaning spree. Hoovering is water neutral, so I make the most of it sucking up hair and other mess from the bath and sink, they look cleaner already.

I can't spare any water to actually clean things so I do a lot of dry wiping with cloths (this strikes me as a false economy as I would still need to wash these if the experiment were going on longer).

Teeth-cleaning water has a multiple use as sink and toilet-lid cleaner, and already the place is looking more presentable. Perhaps I can pull this off after all.

After yesterday's accidental toilet flush, I have nothing in the rations to take extra action in this area. I leave the once daily tug to just before guest-sister's arrival. This is a mistake. For the first time the bathroom starts to smell like a portaloo, not nice!

Whatever economies can be made, reducing below a flush a day strikes me as completely unhygienic and not to be tried. Some air freshener works magic in getting rid of the smell and half a bottle of toilet duck goes down the offending lavatory (more doubts about chemicals compensating for water being a good thing).

Feeling rejuvenated after a whole litre's worth of full body wash, I contact water companies for quotes about efficient water use and wonder whether anyone else on the blogosphere has as much of an obsession with the blue stuff as me.

I start surfing... The Waller has some good practical every day water saving tips, the stuff you'll find in a lot of the company and council literature - get a bag for the toilet cistern which reduces water per flush and don't run taps while cleaning teeth.

Guardian unlimited have a blog area dedicated to water. Waterconserve has an interesting snippet about water being the next carbon, quite possible with the UN and Amnesty already making noise about future shortage and water as a human right.

Water-guide gives a general overview of industry issues, prices and flooding. Many of the blogs have a more general focus on climate issues - this environmental debate site was one of the best I found.

All surfed out, I pack up the computer and welcome guest sister with a hug. Boyfriend and sister have Chinese takeaway for dinner, unable to trace its water footprint I restrain! It strikes me this water restricting lifestyle is not a very social one.

On the plus side, no one has mentioned that I look like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards. I am grateful.

Water used:
8 litres - 1 toilet flush
1.5 litre - drinking water
1 litre - washing
0.75 litre - cleaning teeth and retainers
0.5 litre - cooking pasta

Total: 11.75 litres