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Reducing our water consumption is one of the most daunting challenge we will face over the next ten years, specially where I live in southern CA. I believe that lifestyle-affecting changes will be forced upon us in the near future. That said, I also believe that

widespread conservation could be achieved through basic non-life-shattering habits changes. If enough of us made a difference, we might very well avoid more drastic limitations for everybody in the coming years.

  • Use low flow toilets : these are cheap and pretty nice. They use 70% less water than the pre-1994 thrones. I have them everywhere in my house and although they do require elbow grease some days, they work great. We can all use a plunger, right? Even better are the dual flush low flow toilets. Imagine the toilet asking you “number one, sir?”.
  • Install a hot water recirculator:  this is a very cool invention in my opinion. The purpose of the recirculator is to circulate the water in the hot-water pipes when needed. So, instead of flushing all the cold pipe water to the drain when one takes a shower, the cooled-off water is returned to the hot water tank and the water in the pipes is kept warm. This can yield huge water savings.
  • Fix leaky toilets: keep in mind that most toilets leaks are undetectable to the naked… eye. However, most cities provide leak test capsules for free. They basically color the water in the tank, so that you can see it leaking in the bowl.
  • Use a shower timer: I sometimes take long showers just because I am lost in thoughts. The knowledge of the actual time lapsed prevents me from loosing track of time and from taking 15 minutes showers.
  • Use low-flow shower heads: I know what you are thinking… “taking 2 minutes shower on a trickle sounds great”. But really, it is pretty hard to feel the difference between the normal shower heads and the low-flow ones. The latter just spread things better.
  • Get a front-loading washer: these save 70% water over the top loading washers and they have a higher capacity.
  • Eat your front yard: this could change our landscape a bit… I always wondered why there are so many useless ugly grassy front yards. We could do so much with that space. There are plenty of plants that could grow on a average front yard and provide a non-trivial amount of food while using less water and fertilizer. They can look great too.
  • Reuse: I must admit that this one is tough. The easiest water to reuse is the produce rinsing water. It can be used for the plants irrigation. Don’t go too far with this, though. You got to let go sometimes…
  • Don’t rinse the dishwasher dishes under running water: the dishwashers are pretty good these days at unsticking even the most encroached two days old pasta (don’t ask me how I know…). If it really, really sticks, just use a moist sponge to get it out.
  • Don’t let the water run while brushing your teeth: it’s OK to take your time but turn off the tap!
  • Say yes to “toilet-to-tap” : don’t try this at home but I believe that this will be a key to reducing our water usage in the future. It consists in purifying the waste water and reuse it. I know it sounds gross but this is not that different than what nature already does for us (we dump waste in the ocean, the ocean evaporates, it rains and we drink). So, when a toilet-to-tap proposal comes your way, give i
  • Shave your hair: this can be lifestyle affecting but man, does it save time and water…

The bottom line is that most of these changes are not that hard to implement and if we all spent some effort, we could avoid some more intensely life affecting water usage limitations in the future.

This is obviously not a comprehensive list. I am open to all your ideas. Also, I’d be pretty curious to quantify how much water can be saved without feeling much pinch, so let me know your numbers. I will post a follow-up in a couple of months.