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

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