tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post8184317532662123693..comments2024-03-28T15:55:53.792+10:00Comments on down to earth: Water management - what's your strategy?Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger43125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-18803032446743882972013-01-30T11:21:15.082+10:002013-01-30T11:21:15.082+10:00i think you need a bigger rain gauge rhonda :)i think you need a bigger rain gauge rhonda :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-91127103875792531062010-08-27T07:57:35.773+10:002010-08-27T07:57:35.773+10:00Candice, thanks for your suggestions. We have bee...Candice, thanks for your suggestions. We have been using water saving shower heads since we moved to this house 13 years ago. We've had the Climate Smart audit, and have the meter to help us check our electrical usage. We have solar hot water and have used solar hot water for the past 25 years.rhonda jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08962112306968959985noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-3832096314287299832010-08-27T07:18:52.233+10:002010-08-27T07:18:52.233+10:00Rhonda, you should get a bucket and measure how mu...Rhonda, you should get a bucket and measure how much water your shower uses in a minute. If it's over 9L a minute you have an old shower head. Some local councils have a shower head exchange program or you can use the Climate Smart Home Service program to get new ones in Qld. Or of course, buy a new shower head. It will save water and electricity costs (not heating as much hot water for your shower). I like this solution because you make the decision once and then rep the benefits for ever more. Good luck.Candicehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16226232937287822047noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-88002980885653407302010-08-25T01:16:33.824+10:002010-08-25T01:16:33.824+10:00In our apt in the city we just watch our water usa...In our apt in the city we just watch our water usage. We take showers not baths and not everyday. We turn the water off when we brush our teeth, little things like that. At the lakehouse, we have a well, and an old grandfathered in septic system, that is basically a cesspool, when we flush, it goes into the backyard. The well is in the front yard, and gets full of water. We have a reverse osmosis water filter that we use for that water though, we don't just drink it straight. We don't pay a water bill at the lakehouse, just the electric to pump out the water. I forget sometimes how lucky we are to have that. Its a great idea to have a rain catcher, for watering plants etc, we'll have to get one of those! ps i love your garden!Nicolehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05214792179573054167noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-60510351949611126322010-08-25T00:39:39.831+10:002010-08-25T00:39:39.831+10:00I feel kinda silly because I never really thought ...I feel kinda silly because I never really thought about it. I don't pay for water either. Well, I do, but it's for "water, sewer and garbage/recycling" and that's about $63 a month. I do know that would go up if I needed a bigger garbage can or more recycling containers. (I just use rubbermaid containers of my own). <br />I do collect rain water but I don't know what I'm doing wrong...if I don't use it right away it usually ends up getting funky and slimy even though I keep a screen on top of it and out of the sun.lhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17310212310737074738noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-45812950177571446262010-08-24T13:12:04.443+10:002010-08-24T13:12:04.443+10:00Hi Rhonda,
The previous people who lived in this ...Hi Rhonda,<br /><br />The previous people who lived in this house had a $2000 water bill over the summer (3 months! I guess they used a lot of water while the house was on the market, keeping everything green. Suffice to say we will not be using any water on the garden apart from the vegie patch.<br /><br />KateAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-4910195386905141402010-08-24T12:42:30.014+10:002010-08-24T12:42:30.014+10:00I really love your blog. My husband and I try to ...I really love your blog. My husband and I try to live a slow life amongst the city and I think it doing our son alot of good.fairchildstreethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07211020458372614948noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-66367908272850023132010-08-24T12:38:47.214+10:002010-08-24T12:38:47.214+10:00Amen! What a great way to preserve, i've wante...Amen! What a great way to preserve, i've wanted to try this myself. We really need to conserve all over the world. i think many take for granted it will be there always, but others already know how precious it is when they lack decent water. We pay about $50.00 a month for our water. I really like your idea. Thanks for sharing.<br />Blessings,<br />JillJillhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14904921240840944999noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-32877053994660069042010-08-24T08:19:52.755+10:002010-08-24T08:19:52.755+10:00Great post. This is such an important issue that I...Great post. This is such an important issue that I wish more people were giving some consideration. Living in the city, I think so many people here have lost that connection with water and how every drop is so important. I still see people hosing leaves down gutters to "tidy up", or washing cars on concrete. Makes me hop up and down with irritation.<br />Renting a flat in a city doesn't let me do all the water saving that I would love to do, but there are little things that can be done. eg. attaching an airator faucet in the kitchen tap- couple of dollars and instantly using less water.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-37797286946605688952010-08-24T04:41:48.824+10:002010-08-24T04:41:48.824+10:00McB
watch out for the gray water in the garden. Y...McB<br /><br />watch out for the gray water in the garden. You must use great care as to what goes down the drain. Some cleaners and soaps can pollute the garden. It can also throw off the ph in your soil.<br /><br />CottonLady<br />put a few drops of Tea Tree oil in the laundry soap this fixed the issue. Front loaders tend to get funky odors from mold. The Tea Tree kills it!<br /><br /><br />One other thought simple but effective <br />Ware an apron...This really saves on laundry.Donettahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13530145585581721795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-48290326771149224142010-08-24T04:27:27.279+10:002010-08-24T04:27:27.279+10:00Hello Rhonda
As you may recall we have a 1000 lite...Hello Rhonda<br />As you may recall we have a 1000 liter recycled tank. One that shipped high fru. corn syrup (yuk) <br /><br />It actually over filled Saturday night. We had to let some go. <br />One thing I will be shopping around for is some saucers to place under some large pots recently given to me. This way the over fill stays for the plant to re-obsorb.<br />Another thing we are planning to do.<br />Our Reverse Osmosis drinking water filtration system uses several gallons to make just one. To use the run of we are looking into setting a run off like under the kitchen sink to drain off out to a bird sanctuary I created outside that window. We need to tender the natural habitats this in turn saves on many levels. The birds and beneficial insects that those native grasses provide sustenance to is on the other side of my garden wall. I watch the birds pick off insects. The gecko and lizard populations as well give me great gain here. I have now a thriving eco systenDonettahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13530145585581721795noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-72505801383120114602010-08-24T01:05:49.178+10:002010-08-24T01:05:49.178+10:00I save all the bath water and use a 'Droughtbu...I save all the bath water and use a 'Droughtbuster' water siphon to siphon it out of the window and onto the garden. We live in the driest part of the UK and doing this has drastically reduced our water bill. We do like a bath though, not a shower, but if you have showers you could leave the bath plug in and collect the water all the same, that is provided your bathroom is upstairs like ours is of course. We also have four water butts linked to the four downpipes around our house. When I do the washing up (by hand, no machine here) I save the water in the plastic washing up bowl and use it on the outdoor pot plants.Sue Ghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16463317651625459406noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-52333568756031150472010-08-24T00:16:37.628+10:002010-08-24T00:16:37.628+10:00I live in Israel, where water is scarce and expens...I live in Israel, where water is scarce and expensive. One simple thing for frugal watering is to grow plants that do not require a lot of water. If you live in a dry area you'll often find local species are sturdier. Here we grow things typical to the Mediterranean such as grapes, pomegranates, figs, dates and olives.Mrs. Anna Thttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15377583333000789903noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-68027541031406131052010-08-24T00:06:59.492+10:002010-08-24T00:06:59.492+10:00We have 36,000 litres in rainwater tanks and no ma...We have 36,000 litres in rainwater tanks and no mains water for the household. We also have an Ozzi-kleen toilet treatment plant which takes care of the grey water as well as the sewerage and recycles it over the garden. I have wicking beds so garden water is not wasted through un-necessary watering as the plants use only what they need and because the rest is kept in the reservoir, there is little evaporation. Its works well for us.Bluezbandithttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12609411231250945882noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-42014689823968097012010-08-23T23:56:48.211+10:002010-08-23T23:56:48.211+10:00Our City's Water management company has contin...Our City's Water management company has continually raised our rates yearly. Right now, we pay every three months, and it's around $280 for 3 months, even though our usage hasn't really gone up at all. They do have a low income program, which we need to look into, but when we came here, our bill was probably about 1/2 what it is now. <br />Another good idea for lowering your water usage is to cut down on the amount of clothing you own. Less clothes means less washing clothing that isn't really dirty. Little kids tend to throw clean clothes on the floor or in the laundry, and having fewer clothes is a good way to keep that from happening as much. And using your washing machine efficiently also keeps you from using too much water.<br />Now I just need to get my husband on board with shorter showers, and we can really cut down!Abbyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08217172092566970183noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-25217619511831694482010-08-23T22:30:12.600+10:002010-08-23T22:30:12.600+10:00huh, you think your bill is high! When we built ou...huh, you think your bill is high! When we built our house we connected to our town's water supply. Then the levels of the catchment reservoir got down to less than 20 percent full and the water tasted awful so we decided to buy tanks. We have over 54,000 Litres of beautiful rainwater and are now fully self sufficient in water. We have turned the town water off at the meter and yet still pay bills of $255 every 3 months!!! We are very frugal with water and use greywater in our orchard and to water other trees and shrubs in the scorching summer months. They seem to love it.<br />PS. I love your blog and am greatly encouraged by it.Janhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17734337870080437059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-72075235051873623872010-08-23T22:26:42.294+10:002010-08-23T22:26:42.294+10:00When we get a place of our own, we plan to have la...When we get a place of our own, we plan to have large water containers for runoff, similar to yours. Even with my small raised bed garden here at the apartment, most of the summer I have been able to water it with the runoff from the roof, into 2 32 gallon trash cans I set up. This past month has given us almost no rain, so I have reverted to the garden hose on the spigot. Today we are getting some much needed downpours though, so I shouldn't have to use that hose for another 2 weeks or so.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-81122156448136276782010-08-23T21:15:40.820+10:002010-08-23T21:15:40.820+10:00Hi Rhonda Jean,
here's another way to reduce t...Hi Rhonda Jean,<br />here's another way to reduce the amount of waste water :-)<br /><br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gESV9nTMBTc<br /><br />(a video from Brazil, where people are encouraged to pee in the shower)Mettehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10746322101521757613noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-64737150385491319032010-08-23T20:48:48.101+10:002010-08-23T20:48:48.101+10:00Hi Rhonda, we manage the garden from the water tan...Hi Rhonda, we manage the garden from the water tanks and I'm hoping to hook up the laundry later this year to those. The water bill riles me because we don't use all that much but there are, as you say, the standard fees in that.Rosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14751315680374413649noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-16411287879331432682010-08-23T18:44:17.124+10:002010-08-23T18:44:17.124+10:00Hi Rhonda,
I am on the sunshine coast and it was ...Hi Rhonda,<br /><br />I am on the sunshine coast and it was a shock water and sewage $650 for 6mths. It has gone up by $250! Still waiting for the water company to ring me back because my watermeter was actually not read.<br />2 minute showers for the children, recycle their clothing moreie less washing. we too have a watertank but perhaps I should invest in a pump for it.lorshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10196424495959770682noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-7583904504555777982010-08-23T16:31:41.428+10:002010-08-23T16:31:41.428+10:00Our water bills are usually around $70 per quarter...Our water bills are usually around $70 per quarter in the cooler part of the year, and around $90 per quarter for the warmer half, which is very much under the average. I work in real estate and the average quarterly water bill for this area is around $250! However, we run our house on rain water - only the garden is on mains, because at the moment we dont have enough water tanks to store more water, although hopefully that will change in the near future. Approximately half our bill is water supply and the other half water usage. <br />~S.xo.sorcha.oxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17431135816635778553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-85834935417020615142010-08-23T16:18:20.806+10:002010-08-23T16:18:20.806+10:00Rhonda,
What a brilliant blog today, I wanted it ...Rhonda,<br /><br />What a brilliant blog today, I wanted it to go on forever!<br />This is the second year in my tiny house, last year I monitored the water, and only used 22㎥, and got 356 Danish Kr back. As I was going to be watering the garden this year I gave in and bought a small dishwasher, and so far have actually used less water than last year at the same time. I check after winter that there are no broken, leaky pipes. Next spring I will be buying 2x1000㎥ water butts and use them for the toilet flush, washing machine and the garden.<br /><br />However all this seems mute at the moment, as last weekend there where floods, cars totally covered with water, cellars flooded, a whole road of people had to be evacuated from their houses, thankfully I live on the top of a small hill, so although the ground is sodden, no flooding. Today it looks as though there is not going to be any rain, I'll go for a long bike ride.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02251742062360436463noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-51917693077716364582010-08-23T15:20:33.262+10:002010-08-23T15:20:33.262+10:00Hi Rhonda,
We do catchment from our gutters too. W...Hi Rhonda,<br />We do catchment from our gutters too. We're lucky to have irrigation water from our big river for our crops. We would like to hookup a gray water system to some of our plumbing as well so that our dish water and shower water and laundry water ends up watering trees and not sitting in our septic tank. Water is so precious and you are right not to waste it!<br />love to you and yours,<br />sarafarmama sarahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05542597054844686141noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-74768634084912588682010-08-23T14:59:28.826+10:002010-08-23T14:59:28.826+10:00I have my own well so have no charge for water. I...I have my own well so have no charge for water. It is an electric water pump and I do have to pay extra there, but it only comes to about $5-$7 a month.<br /><br />My well, my pump, my water ... right? About 2 years ago, our county was talking about putting water meters on everyone's water lines! I haven't heard anything else since about that. Gee, there must have been an uproar or something ... LOL!<br />Yvettemtnchildhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17457636624663214696noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5089828552519076506.post-3523506729619693252010-08-23T14:18:02.842+10:002010-08-23T14:18:02.842+10:00yes, the actual water component of that bill is on...yes, the actual water component of that bill is only $19. The rest is for infrastructure, sewage and service delivery. Phhhhhttt! My step son's bill, in the same town was over $700. Hanno is on the aged pension and we get a $50 rebate for that.rhonda jeanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08962112306968959985noreply@blogger.com