The final day is here and my mind is already starting to think past water efficiency.
I know the day will be an easy one as I have a lot of bath water still collected to use for toilet flushing, which leaves me with a very generous daily allowance.
This surplus reflects in a variety of small luxuries, drop sized rewards for my hard work over the week. I use a quarter of a litre to make up a salt mouth-wash I use daily, another half litre to wash raspberries and vegetables, the same again for cooking pasta.
Relaxing and for the first time in ages, not worrying about water and planning use, I struggle to remember how bad I felt on Friday. Even on that bad day I always knew restrictions would end soon, it would have been much tougher otherwise.
Thinking over the week I wonder what lessons I will take with me back into 'water as usual' life. I'm sure I'll slip back into bad habits, but I do plan to try and make small changes.
The tap won't be left running and running and running as I clean my teeth. I will wash fruit and veg in a bowl. I'll be a bit more aware of just how long I'm luxuriating in the shower.
In one area I'm not budging, you've guessed it, the toilet goes back to being flushed as many times as needed. But maybe I will get a bubble bag for the cistern to reduce the amount of water it uses.
Urban, Islington life doesn't lend itself well to big revolutions in water efficiency and I have missed normal socialising desperately. But small changes make a great difference the water companies will tell you, and reflecting on some of my previous water-waster habits I agree with them.
Armed with my usage figures, I am going to do some number crunching to find out just where all that water went this week. Maybe the stats will throw up some interesting trends.
Having generally ignored water issues before; hose pipe bans, bah, that's ridiculous - turn off taps, state nag nag nagging and why don't they sort out the leaky pipes first anyway - I have a new found respect for just how important this simple two-element compound is to our bodies, homes and lives.
I remain a splashingly enthusiastic aqua fan but may just listen a little more to seriously to appeals to use water wisely.
Water used:
1.5 litre - drinking water
0.5 litre - cleaning teeth and retainers
0.5 litre - cooking pasta
0.5 litre - orange squash
0.25 litre - washing strawberries
0.25 litre - washing vegetables
0.25 litre - salt water mouthwash
Total: 3.75 litres
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Showing posts with label water. Show all posts
Monday, August 06, 2007
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Water Log: Day 6 (Saturday 4th August)
I am clean! I am clean! I am clean!
You get the point, it's shower day, I'm excited. As I eat breakfast I can't wait to get into the bathroom and turn on the taps. A short five minute non-power shower uses 35 litres of water, so I set my alarm clock and jump on in.
Our shower takes ages to find the right temperature, you have to move the taps with millimetre like precision to find that point between ice cold and scolding - but I don't care and get in anyway. It is wet, refreshing, invigorating and just damn good.
The five minutes is enough to wash the anti-gravity hair and have a good body scrub. As I turn the taps off I am so pleased to be clean. I plugged the bath beforehand, so also have about half a tub's worth of warm water collected, which I use to shave my legs and generally splash around like a child, beaming.
As I step out, it occurs to me that I now have 35 litres of what they call grey water sloshing around that can be used for all sorts of other stuff. If I hadn't shaved my legs, this would make excellent clothes-washing water - or for those with gardens prime plant-thirst quencher.
I don't have to wash any clothes thankfully, although if water week was going on longer this is exactly what I would do. So I get a bucket and instead use the water as an alternative to toilet-flushing. It works surprisingly well and there seems to be a never ending supply. I use around 16 litres over the course of the day and the bath is still about a quarter full.
Feeling rather smug about my sudden water riches, I splash out later in the evening and wash the salad I'm having for dinner. As I do, it occurs to me that I could have done this all along - wash the salad over a bowl and simply transfer this into your washing-up rations. Hey presto fertiliser poisoning avoided. Oh well, shortage makes you get creative, I'll know for next time.
As one last treat, I have a fantastically good cup of Earl Grey tea.
I know I'm on the home run now, with my water efficiency figures well in target and enough bath water to last for at least another day the hardest part is over. There may even be some water spare for more treats tomorrow.
On the subject of my increasingly reclusive lifestyle, the friend in Brighton who has taken to calling me smelly was saved from a visit this weekend. Just a few of the anticipated problems - how could I not flush in other people's houses, we would inevitably eat-out as the plan was to hit gay-pride, and how much water does a car use on a trip to Brighton anyway? It just wouldn't have been practical.
Apparently it takes 7 litres of water to make one pint of beer (one blogger says it can be as much as 300 pints indirect water), so I would also have been sober - entirely unprecedented! Now that's just no fun, is it...
Water used:
35 litres - 1 shower (yay)
8 litres - 1 toilet flush
2.25 litres - drinking water
0.5 litre - washing teeth and retainers
0.5 litre - 1 cup of tea
0.25 litres - washing salad
Total: 46.5 litres
You get the point, it's shower day, I'm excited. As I eat breakfast I can't wait to get into the bathroom and turn on the taps. A short five minute non-power shower uses 35 litres of water, so I set my alarm clock and jump on in.
Our shower takes ages to find the right temperature, you have to move the taps with millimetre like precision to find that point between ice cold and scolding - but I don't care and get in anyway. It is wet, refreshing, invigorating and just damn good.
The five minutes is enough to wash the anti-gravity hair and have a good body scrub. As I turn the taps off I am so pleased to be clean. I plugged the bath beforehand, so also have about half a tub's worth of warm water collected, which I use to shave my legs and generally splash around like a child, beaming.
As I step out, it occurs to me that I now have 35 litres of what they call grey water sloshing around that can be used for all sorts of other stuff. If I hadn't shaved my legs, this would make excellent clothes-washing water - or for those with gardens prime plant-thirst quencher.
I don't have to wash any clothes thankfully, although if water week was going on longer this is exactly what I would do. So I get a bucket and instead use the water as an alternative to toilet-flushing. It works surprisingly well and there seems to be a never ending supply. I use around 16 litres over the course of the day and the bath is still about a quarter full.
Feeling rather smug about my sudden water riches, I splash out later in the evening and wash the salad I'm having for dinner. As I do, it occurs to me that I could have done this all along - wash the salad over a bowl and simply transfer this into your washing-up rations. Hey presto fertiliser poisoning avoided. Oh well, shortage makes you get creative, I'll know for next time.
As one last treat, I have a fantastically good cup of Earl Grey tea.
I know I'm on the home run now, with my water efficiency figures well in target and enough bath water to last for at least another day the hardest part is over. There may even be some water spare for more treats tomorrow.
On the subject of my increasingly reclusive lifestyle, the friend in Brighton who has taken to calling me smelly was saved from a visit this weekend. Just a few of the anticipated problems - how could I not flush in other people's houses, we would inevitably eat-out as the plan was to hit gay-pride, and how much water does a car use on a trip to Brighton anyway? It just wouldn't have been practical.
Apparently it takes 7 litres of water to make one pint of beer (one blogger says it can be as much as 300 pints indirect water), so I would also have been sober - entirely unprecedented! Now that's just no fun, is it...
Water used:
35 litres - 1 shower (yay)
8 litres - 1 toilet flush
2.25 litres - drinking water
0.5 litre - washing teeth and retainers
0.5 litre - 1 cup of tea
0.25 litres - washing salad
Total: 46.5 litres
Saturday, August 04, 2007
Water Log: Day 5 (Friday 3rd August)
It's a hot day outside and I have a feeling that this might make water efficiency tougher. All the advice says that you need more water as the temperature goes up and obviously there's the potential to smell alot more.
The day starts with washing up and I'm proud as 3 litres of water gets me through two loads - last night's takeaway dishes, which make the water smell of crispy duck and hoi sin sauce, and the usual breakfast plates and cups. The water lasts surprisingly well despite it's strange odour.
I head into Islington to do some shopping with my boyfriend and his sister and am pleased to be out of the house, although I don't feel great. I am actually dirty now, it's got past the stage of worrying what others think, it's more the annoying self knowledge that you're just not clean. And being around others who are emphasises that.
Having said that, I'm not stared at and I don't detect any judgemental looks from shop assistants or people walking by. I try on hats in Mambo and feel bad that I might be contaminating them, but do decide to buy a nice light blue trilby sunhat.
Boyfriend's sister asks, "When was the last time you washed your hair", when I tell her Sunday she is surprised and asks why my hair is not filthy. I am secretly delighted but tell her it is, she says it looks more like I've just sprayed a lot of hair spray on - which is probably quite accurate. When I take my hair out of a ponytail it has gravity defying forces and stays put where it is, needing encouragement to move back down to usual hanging position. It's very unpleasent.
As we pop in and out of shops I feel pretty rough. I have a headache, am tired and grumpy, as well as feeling too hot, sweaty and very thirsty. I'm unable to eat-out (can't track the water footprint) so we head home for lunch and I feel guilty again that this obssession with water is affecting other people's lives. There is just no room for compromise and socialising doesn't fit into the rations.
Back at home the thirst continues. I start to get a small cloudy dot moving across the sight line of my left eye - this happens sometimes when I get very dehydrated so it's not scary but mildly frustrating. I worry that my body is punishing me for cutting back my water intake so quickly and piling in a load of pesticides - it can't say 'wash before use' on fruit and veg for no reason.
After food and a much need extra 0.75 litres of rehydration I am feeling better and say good bye to the holiday makers as they jump in a cab to the airport. The flat is clean, the dishes done and the toilet flushed so my water needs for the day are taken care of.
I start to think about shower day tomorrow. So far I've used 69.25 litres of water and saved 30.75, add further savings tomorrow and I've made the 35 litre allowance I need for a full five minute shower. It will be such a treat to be clean.
Water used:
8 litres - 1 toilet flush
3 litres - 2 sets of washing up
2.25 litres - drinking water
0.5 litre washing
0.5 litre - teeth and retainer cleaning
Total: 14.25 litres
The day starts with washing up and I'm proud as 3 litres of water gets me through two loads - last night's takeaway dishes, which make the water smell of crispy duck and hoi sin sauce, and the usual breakfast plates and cups. The water lasts surprisingly well despite it's strange odour.
I head into Islington to do some shopping with my boyfriend and his sister and am pleased to be out of the house, although I don't feel great. I am actually dirty now, it's got past the stage of worrying what others think, it's more the annoying self knowledge that you're just not clean. And being around others who are emphasises that.
Having said that, I'm not stared at and I don't detect any judgemental looks from shop assistants or people walking by. I try on hats in Mambo and feel bad that I might be contaminating them, but do decide to buy a nice light blue trilby sunhat.
Boyfriend's sister asks, "When was the last time you washed your hair", when I tell her Sunday she is surprised and asks why my hair is not filthy. I am secretly delighted but tell her it is, she says it looks more like I've just sprayed a lot of hair spray on - which is probably quite accurate. When I take my hair out of a ponytail it has gravity defying forces and stays put where it is, needing encouragement to move back down to usual hanging position. It's very unpleasent.
As we pop in and out of shops I feel pretty rough. I have a headache, am tired and grumpy, as well as feeling too hot, sweaty and very thirsty. I'm unable to eat-out (can't track the water footprint) so we head home for lunch and I feel guilty again that this obssession with water is affecting other people's lives. There is just no room for compromise and socialising doesn't fit into the rations.
Back at home the thirst continues. I start to get a small cloudy dot moving across the sight line of my left eye - this happens sometimes when I get very dehydrated so it's not scary but mildly frustrating. I worry that my body is punishing me for cutting back my water intake so quickly and piling in a load of pesticides - it can't say 'wash before use' on fruit and veg for no reason.
After food and a much need extra 0.75 litres of rehydration I am feeling better and say good bye to the holiday makers as they jump in a cab to the airport. The flat is clean, the dishes done and the toilet flushed so my water needs for the day are taken care of.
I start to think about shower day tomorrow. So far I've used 69.25 litres of water and saved 30.75, add further savings tomorrow and I've made the 35 litre allowance I need for a full five minute shower. It will be such a treat to be clean.
Water used:
8 litres - 1 toilet flush
3 litres - 2 sets of washing up
2.25 litres - drinking water
0.5 litre washing
0.5 litre - teeth and retainer cleaning
Total: 14.25 litres
Friday, August 03, 2007
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
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
Monday, July 30, 2007
Water Week
H2O is the hot topic at casa Youle right now, as for one week only I'm living off African water rations in the name of cutting-edge journalism. A daily diary of my experiences and water usage will be kept here, and others may even log their thoughts on my increasing whiftiness.
In practical terms, my water allowance is 20 litres a day - the average for many Africans and probably some Gloucestershire residents at the moment. The normal daily water usage for a Londoner is about 160 litres, so the the numbers speak from themselves this is going to be a difficult adjustment.
When I started planning water week I had some worries - how often would I be able to shower, would I be able to cook pasta and rice as often as I usually do and would I need to invest in a new beaker for teeth cleaning? I don't have a car, or a dish-washer or a garden - surely this won't be too hard!
As my research continued, I realised the issues were going to be far more basic.
A bath uses 80 litres of water, a shower 35 - and that's for five minutes, not my usual splashingly long 20 minutes. Flushing the toilet once uses 8 litres of water, this made me panic. How was I going to survive on two toilet trips a day? Add two litres of drinking water to stay healthy and there's not much left to play with.
So I started body analysis. How many times a day did I go to the loo, never less than five after a few days counting. Oh dear! After discussions about whether I should increase my water supply (boyfriend - no that's what it's all about, what sort of journalist gives up when the going gets tough), I decided to go for the hard slog.
At best, I'm hoping to survive on one toilet flush a day and still wash occasionally. More than one person has already suggested that I should find a local park with bushy wildlife if the going gets really tough. I'm hoping it doesn't!
In preparation for the week ahead, I washed all my clothes this weekend and indulged in a long, hot bath yesterday evening. I know some might say this was cheating, but hell, I was already missing the blue stuff and thought I'd go out with a splash. I've also warned everyone I've spoken to that I might start to smell a bit by the end of the week, they have all been polite so far.
Armed with my measuring jug, an optimistic outlook and a new found respect for the amount of water I casually wash down pipes daily, the experiment has started. Watch this space.
In practical terms, my water allowance is 20 litres a day - the average for many Africans and probably some Gloucestershire residents at the moment. The normal daily water usage for a Londoner is about 160 litres, so the the numbers speak from themselves this is going to be a difficult adjustment.
When I started planning water week I had some worries - how often would I be able to shower, would I be able to cook pasta and rice as often as I usually do and would I need to invest in a new beaker for teeth cleaning? I don't have a car, or a dish-washer or a garden - surely this won't be too hard!
As my research continued, I realised the issues were going to be far more basic.
A bath uses 80 litres of water, a shower 35 - and that's for five minutes, not my usual splashingly long 20 minutes. Flushing the toilet once uses 8 litres of water, this made me panic. How was I going to survive on two toilet trips a day? Add two litres of drinking water to stay healthy and there's not much left to play with.
So I started body analysis. How many times a day did I go to the loo, never less than five after a few days counting. Oh dear! After discussions about whether I should increase my water supply (boyfriend - no that's what it's all about, what sort of journalist gives up when the going gets tough), I decided to go for the hard slog.
At best, I'm hoping to survive on one toilet flush a day and still wash occasionally. More than one person has already suggested that I should find a local park with bushy wildlife if the going gets really tough. I'm hoping it doesn't!
In preparation for the week ahead, I washed all my clothes this weekend and indulged in a long, hot bath yesterday evening. I know some might say this was cheating, but hell, I was already missing the blue stuff and thought I'd go out with a splash. I've also warned everyone I've spoken to that I might start to smell a bit by the end of the week, they have all been polite so far.
Armed with my measuring jug, an optimistic outlook and a new found respect for the amount of water I casually wash down pipes daily, the experiment has started. Watch this space.
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