So how does California deal with a drought? - Page 2

Morrigoon · 10-13-2007, 01:25 AM

Water your lawn at 2am, cut down on the amount of water you give it (you can, you know, since there is time for it to be absorbed by the ground without losing much to evaporation.

Restaurants no longer automatically serve water to you - you have to ask for it.

Don't wash your car so often.

Fix running toilets - a "slow" leak in a toilet can waste a TON of water. If you hear your toilet "running" on its own, it means there's a leak.

I can't remember a time when we weren't being told that we were in a drought, so it's really nothing new to me.

BDBopper · 10-13-2007, 06:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

Water your lawn at 2am, cut down on the amount of water you give it (you can, you know, since there is time for it to be absorbed by the ground without losing much to evaporation.

Restaurants no longer automatically serve water to you - you have to ask for it.

Don't wash your car so often.

Fix running toilets - a "slow" leak in a toilet can waste a TON of water. If you hear your toilet "running" on its own, it means there's a leak.

I can't remember a time when we weren't being told that we were in a drought, so it's really nothing new to me.

All very good ideas. BTW I love your sunny avatar. It's so cute!

Stan4dSteph · 10-13-2007, 10:46 AM

Turn off the water when you're brushing your teeth.

~MS~ · 10-13-2007, 11:44 AM

Run full loads in the dishwasher and laundry. If you own your home redo your yard to require less watering, if you don't have the new models of toliets, use the brick or 1/2 gallon milk jug trick to reduce the water capacity in the tank and the toliet will still flush just fine...take shorter showers, if you have a hand held shower head, turn the water off in between shampoo'ing up your hair and rinse and the same with conditioners. Like Steph already mentioned, turn the water off while brushing your teeth/shaving.

figment1986 · 10-16-2007, 05:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morrigoon

Water your lawn at 2am, cut down on the amount of water you give it (you can, you know, since there is time for it to be absorbed by the ground without losing much to evaporation.

Restaurants no longer automatically serve water to you - you have to ask for it.

Don't wash your car so often.

Fix running toilets - a "slow" leak in a toilet can waste a TON of water. If you hear your toilet "running" on its own, it means there's a leak.

I can't remember a time when we weren't being told that we were in a drought, so it's really nothing new to me.

Now the Floridian news stations never said anything about watering the lawn at night after sundown... that sounds like a great idea for the people who have homeowners associations, myself my front lawn is either dead or weed grass while my backyard grows with the creek as a water source.

it seems FLA and southern California are similar with having drought conditions for long periods of time...

perhaps we could get a tropical storm to restart the weather cycle in fla and GA.

Not Afraid · 10-16-2007, 06:16 PM

Florida and Drought are two concepts that should not be in the same sentence.

BDBopper · 10-16-2007, 06:28 PM

To conserve water has anyone ever tried taking a shower but stopping the drain? I just tried that today and my shower wasn't as long and didn't use up as much water.

figment1986 · 10-16-2007, 06:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Not Afraid

Florida and Drought are two concepts that should not be in the same sentence.

it should not... But it happens, almost every year it seems we get a bad dry season. I think we're still under the old average even though July - early September was rain every afternoon or evening depending where you live.

they have yet to loosen the watering restrictions... which is not too bad. The water management even built a desalt plant to get water from the gulf to help when needed, but it doesn't work perfectly yet.

BarTopDancer · 10-16-2007, 06:47 PM

Nearly every shower head sold and installed now come with flow restrictors. Personally, I remove them - can't stand them and they make my shower longer.

Fix leaky faucets and toilets. Put a brick or milk jug full of water in your toilet tank. Water your lawn at night, don't wash your car, don't use water you don't need.

Alex · 10-16-2007, 07:01 PM

If you have a modern low flow toilet (and if you're toilet is newer than 1994 it should be) you probably don't want to do the "brick in the tank" trick since it will probably reduce the flush capacity to the degree that you're flushing multiple times which ends up using even more water (and this is a problem with poorly made low flow toilets without even putting a brick in).

Second, don't actually use a brick. Bricks dissolve in water and can damage the toilet tank when chunks get into places they shouldn't. Also, a standard brick doesn't really displace that much water. If you have a pre-1994 toilet then you can put something of larger displacement capacity that won't dissolve (such as a ballasted gallon milk jug) in there. Of course, if you're committed, simply replacing the old 3.5 or 5 gallon per flush with a modern low flow toilet would probably be a better idea.

There's no reason for every shower to be a luxurious experience and it really shouldn't take more than five minutes and if you start taking a "navy shower" you can cut water use from 60 gallons for a 10 minute shower down to 3 (in a navy shower you use water to get wet and rinse off and turn it off the rest of the time).

10-13-2007, 01:25 AM	#11
Morrigoon I throw stones at houses Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Location: Location Posts: 9,534	Water your lawn at 2am, cut down on the amount of water you give it (you can, you know, since there is time for it to be absorbed by the ground without losing much to evaporation. Restaurants no longer automatically serve water to you - you have to ask for it. Don't wash your car so often. Fix running toilets - a "slow" leak in a toilet can waste a TON of water. If you hear your toilet "running" on its own, it means there's a leak. I can't remember a time when we weren't being told that we were in a drought, so it's really nothing new to me. __________________ http://bash.org/?top "It is useless for sheep to pass a resolution in favor of vegetarianism while wolves remain of a different opinion." -- William Randolph Inge
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10-13-2007, 10:46 AM	#13
Stan4dSteph Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: East Bay Area, CA Posts: 3,156	Turn off the water when you're brushing your teeth.
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10-13-2007, 11:44 AM	#14
~MS~ One Happy little Missy! Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 658	Run full loads in the dishwasher and laundry. If you own your home redo your yard to require less watering, if you don't have the new models of toliets, use the brick or 1/2 gallon milk jug trick to reduce the water capacity in the tank and the toliet will still flush just fine...take shorter showers, if you have a hand held shower head, turn the water off in between shampoo'ing up your hair and rinse and the same with conditioners. Like Steph already mentioned, turn the water off while brushing your teeth/shaving. __________________ "Sometimes Miracles Hide"
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10-16-2007, 06:16 PM	#16
Not Afraid HI! Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 17,108	Florida and Drought are two concepts that should not be in the same sentence.
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10-16-2007, 06:28 PM	#17
BDBopper Not Taking Any Crap! Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: Cleaning Up America, One Step At A Time! Posts: 1,694	To conserve water has anyone ever tried taking a shower but stopping the drain? I just tried that today and my shower wasn't as long and didn't use up as much water.
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10-16-2007, 06:47 PM	#19
BarTopDancer Prepping... Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Here, there, everywhere Posts: 11,405	Nearly every shower head sold and installed now come with flow restrictors. Personally, I remove them - can't stand them and they make my shower longer. Fix leaky faucets and toilets. Put a brick or milk jug full of water in your toilet tank. Water your lawn at night, don't wash your car, don't use water you don't need. __________________ Spork is the new MacGyver Postcards From My Edge
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10-16-2007, 07:01 PM	#20
Alex . Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 13,354	If you have a modern low flow toilet (and if you're toilet is newer than 1994 it should be) you probably don't want to do the "brick in the tank" trick since it will probably reduce the flush capacity to the degree that you're flushing multiple times which ends up using even more water (and this is a problem with poorly made low flow toilets without even putting a brick in). Second, don't actually use a brick. Bricks dissolve in water and can damage the toilet tank when chunks get into places they shouldn't. Also, a standard brick doesn't really displace that much water. If you have a pre-1994 toilet then you can put something of larger displacement capacity that won't dissolve (such as a ballasted gallon milk jug) in there. Of course, if you're committed, simply replacing the old 3.5 or 5 gallon per flush with a modern low flow toilet would probably be a better idea. There's no reason for every shower to be a luxurious experience and it really shouldn't take more than five minutes and if you start taking a "navy shower" you can cut water use from 60 gallons for a 10 minute shower down to 3 (in a navy shower you use water to get wet and rinse off and turn it off the rest of the time).
	Submit to Quotes