How do you use water?

I use water as I need it. I dont leave it run as I brush my teeth so I am a bit mindful of water usage.
 
I believe my country has the largest fresh water supply in the world. We don't have issues with our water like they do in Ireland or Flint or other places. We don't have droughts. We don't really have to worry here. However, the price we pay for our hydro is fucking disgusting in my province so I try to be mindful of my water useage only because I just hate the idea of paying so much money for such a highly available resource (insert "check your privilege" here). Up until recently I never had to pay for water so would use it a bit more leisurely.

I shower daily but I don't take a long time unless it's a weekend. Then I might be in there 30 min max. I have a dishwasher but prefer washing by hand. I drink straight out of the tap and don't bother with bottled water unless I have to. I don't run the tap when brushing my teeth. I think for the most part my water habits are fairly conservative without trying too hard.
 
I like this thread. Honestly, my water usage has been on my mind A LOT lately.
I have been feeling extreme guilt over wasting water which I personally know I
am horrible at doing.

I use water, thoughtlessly, carelessly and in abundance.

I -try- to drink nearly a gallon of water a day. I also use it to cook with as well
as brew coffee, tea, etc...

I shower once every other day/every two days for about 30 minutes. Most days
I just rinse off real quick after the gym if it is not a shampooing day. That probably
takes me five minutes at most to rinse myself.

Other days I soak in the tub which I know I shouldn't do but I am a selfish woman
who considers a bath a luxury and likes to indulge. I am also the kind of woman
that stays in the bath so long I must drain the water and add hot multiple times.
Allow me to take a moment to thank the creator of the hot water heater.

I brush my teeth daily with water.
I wash my hands daily with water.
I wash my face.

I enjoy gardening, specifically of the potted plant variety and must use water to
keep my plants alive.

I water my pets.
I give people glasses of water.
I use water to wash dishes, mop, wipe spills.

If it is frozen I love to play on it. (Currently working on my ice skating game.)

Sometimes when I get some water if it is not cold enough I dump it out and get more.
This is so wasteful.

The city I live in at present has one of the best water facility treatment centers in the United
States which I think is really cool. The water here is really clean which if you are
aware of the Flint water crisis can be a point of concern even in modernized America.
Water really is a valuable resource that too many of us waste and take for granted.
I want to go on a long rant about global warming right now and water levels and
fresh water .vs. salt water but do not wish to derail this thread.
 
^
I don't understand why people are so parsimonious with water. People feel guilty about using it? Huh?

If water is a little scarce in some areas, sure cut back, but I'd be more peeved with the lack of adequate infrastructure, instead of feeling guilty.

In terms of the cost of water, the clouds are not paid to rain. The cost arises from the infrastructure; it takes the same amount of money to maintain the water system, virtually regardless of how much water flows through it. If everyone uses less, the price per gallon has to go up. If everyone uses heaps, the price per gallon goes down.

The cost of the infrastructure is divided by the gallons delivered; more gallons, the lower the price per gallon.
 
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Fresh water is a very small percentage of water on Earth. Fresh water that is used by humans, is not only used for what we do in our households. It is also needed for other things that we do on this planet. The amount that we use in our region effects the amount that is available for use in neighbouring regions, and the amount that is available in those regions effects the amount that is available in regions neighbouring to those too. The Earth is not made up of tiny self contained bubbles. Fresh water doesn't necessarily return to the same places that it is taken from.

Why do you use more than you have to of some resource that is so rare on Earth, when you don't need to. Just because it's fun.
 
I try to think of a way to explain how I really feel about using water. Water is like love. When I use it, if I use just as much as I need, I value and appreciate and enjoy what I use just as much as if I had used much much more, just so long as I have been able to use as much as I need. Sorry I don't know how to explain this very well.
 
I drink tap water because our tap water is safe to drink (all Nordic countries in Europe), also this country has lots of fresh & clean water available for everyone but because water bills are kinda pricy here ironically, I tend to use water very carefully.
 
I have always experienced drought conditions at some time or another in the state I live in so wise water habits are something that has just been instilled in my family. I take very quick showers and actually keep my garden watering jug in the shower to catch run off and all the stray drops. When I know a rare rainstorm is on its way, I use containers to catch this water as well and use it for my garden. I also installed low flow water faucets and shower heads. All household appliances and toilets are low-flow as well. I don't run the dishwasher anymore after finding out I used far less water to hand wash them. Yes I am guilty of having a bubble bath every now and again, but seriously, it is so rare that I don't even feel guilty about it when I have spent all this time and money ensuring that my house and my family never waste a drop of water. I even ripped out the grass lawn in the front yard to create a garden with plants native to this environment which never need watering. What pisses me off is when in drought conditions I can see my neighbors washing their cars, letting the hose run all down their driveway watering sidewalks and pavement... WTF. Our city uses desalinated water and reclaimed water to use for public areas such as parks. If we go over our water consumption here, we are heavily fined. A household of 5 and we are always well below our limits.
 
I plead the Fifth because I live at school, and we probably waste quite a bit of water.

That being said, there are plenty of environmental-oriented clubs on campus, and personally, I strive to conserve water (showering quickly, turning off the tap, washing clothes only if the only clean things I have left to wear are socks or something like that).
 
invisible said:
....
Why do you use more than you have to of some resource that is so rare on Earth, when you don't need to. Just because it's fun.
Click to expand...

Most fresh water falls as rain, or snow. It then travels downhill until it reaches a lake, or the ocean. Urban water takes dirty fresh water, purifies it and pipes it to me. I have my fun with it, it goes down other pipes and then resumes its path to the ocean. This is just a more convoluted path, but is essentially the same as taking a swim in a river; the water is not used up, it is simply given a more useful path through a city. A shower is essentially a man-made waterfall in the downhill movement of water from high-ground to the ocean.
 
I drink tap water too, it is filtered in this country. Besides, if you drink bottled, you just drink tap water put in a bottle :p

https://www.rt.com/usa/319980-aquafina-tap-water-origins/
[video=youtube;LisE9wEdGbw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LisE9wEdGbw[/video]

As for showers and stuff, there is no point in going out of your way to conserve water in countries that have too much of it and do not suffer draughts.
If you however are dealing with a shared limited water source, then yes you should do your best to conserve water so as not to inconvenience others.
I myself intend to build my own reservoir in addition to my water source for things like showers and such and to weather any draughts with a little more comfort than would otherwise be the case.
 
I pretty much turn all the taps on in my house as soon as I get up. I suspect I could host oh say...1000 death match games in 2065. Buy a couple thousand slaves etc...
The most informative thing I received out of this is knowledge of just how completely bias The Onion is. Apparently The Onion is run by actual Onions. GTK moment.
 
Reading this thread made me feel guilty on how excessively i use water on a daily basis...

I shower 3times everyday (min of 30mins, more when im contemplating and i just let the water wash over me)
Clean the house everyday (scrub the floors and walls)
I wash the dishes by hands all the time - once i see a dirty plates or whatever i wash it right away.
I do laundry everyday - whatever i think is dirty i wash it
I don't drink tap water though since it's dirty (where i'm from) but im using a filter which i have to change every 3months..
I give my pets a bath everyday
Water my plants in the mornings and evening


Basically water is my life.

I once went to a remote area where the water is scarce (the one from survivor series) i'm never going back there again.

I guess i abuse my blessing too much :/
 
I don’t drink my tap water, as the calcium, sulfur, and other minerals make it foul to me. Perhaps I got spoiled by Chicago tap water in the past. So I fill a reusable container that is now a few years old.

I altered the internals of my toilet to be low-flow, and it gets flushed about every other day. The other days I’ve used the loo at work.

Toothbrush time is a dash to wet the brush, and then enough to fill my cupped hands twice so as to rinse my mouth and rinse my face (I get into it).

Showers are pure efficiency these days, always under 5 minutes...I use a timer. In the past, before I was diagnosed and treated for my ADHD, I could be in there for an hour, lost in a daydream, with no sense at all of how much time had passed. Now a shower is a thing of function, not a thing of idle pleasure. And that’s OK.

I do dishes once a week. I will wipe out and quickly rinse anything that has food on it on the day of its use, but that is rare. When I do the dishes, I have a sinkfull of soapy boiling hot and a sinkfull of rinse.

Laundry is 1-1/2 washer loads per week, average.

I drink about a half-gallon/2 liters of water from the water cooler at work per day.

I wash my hands a couple of times a day at work. The water does not run until it is time to rinse, and I scrub like a nurse.

I have a bucket with two sides that I fill about half-way (so 3-4 gallons, I’m guessing) with a hot/rinse setup like I do with the dishes. This is for cleaning the bathroom, the kitchen, and the shower. That happens each week.

I’ve been shamed for how often I wash my car. That’s once every 6-8 weeks, through an automated drive-thru wash. I don’t think about it, can’t be bothered, and in some ways I am frugal.


Cheers,
Ian
 
We put in water bottles in our toilet tanks to lower our water use/bills from flushing, but I can't say I'm particularly mindful of water usage otherwise. They're just habits. I take quick showers daily, water my plants extra well when it's gonna be a hot day, wait until my dishwasher/washer is loaded before I run it. I don't drink from the tap and I am not always careful to turn off the tap while brushing my teeth.
 
I am glad to see a thread like this. Just recently watched this very insightful, informative, yet extremely worrisome documentary called Blue Gold: World Water Wars. I highly recommend it to those who want to be informed in recent events regarding the international and planetary issue with the over-consumption and dwindling supply of water. Let's just say I won't ever look at Dasani purified water bottles manufactured by Coke-Cola the same way, and will probably not buy products from Nestle or Coke-Cola ever again. It makes my blood boil on how corrupt corporations are and the amount of inequality and greed that are profoundly paramount in our societies that affect the well-being of so many.

One of the speakers/researchers stated that fifty years from now---mind you the documentary was released in 2008, so 2058-ish, maybe less---we will most likely encounter a major lack of water supply and go through an international crisis. Also there is only 3% of fresh water (some polluted due to cholera, dead animals, litter, etc, etc.) in the planet in comparison to 97% being salt-water.

The Great Lakes that major water corporations have been utilizing is already close to becoming a desert too. I won't get too detailed into this so I won't spoil it for those who want to watch it, it's a great documentary and really puts your mind into deep perspective.

I have always used little amounts of water---only 15 minute showers, and turning off the faucets when brushing teeth, etc, etc. I always feel so bad because in the back of my mind when I use water there are other families, children, elders, etc, etc that need water more than I do, and the struggles and hardships they have to go through just to survive and be clean breaks my heart. It's absolutely heartbreaking...:(


Edit: Just found the documentary on YouTube for those interested.

 
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