| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| Lozzie |
Water Saving TipsIn view of the news that the whole of South East England (it seems) is to once again be hampered by a hose-pipe ban this year, and also in light of the fact that we are having drier and drier winters here in the South West, I wondered if anyone would like to share their favourite water-saving tips and techniques.Once we have enough tips, I will steal them all, turn them into an article and sit back and bask in the adulation when it is published on Downsizer's front page 
For my part: Save your bath water to flush the toilet. We are lucky enough to have three toilets in our house and so I actually LOCK the doors to two of them to force people upstairs to use the toilet in the bathroom. How cruel am I?  But it works!
Brush your teeth using a small jug of water, like they typically do in countries where water is even more rationed than it is here. Save used cooking water (either for re-cooking - try making bread with it - or, if unsalted, for your plants. Note: can it be used for chickens?) Use ecoballs and divert your washing machine run off onto your lawn. |
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| Mr BlueSky |
Rainwater, rainwater and more rain water!
Collect as much of it as you can. Put a water butt / dustbin under very downpipe 
S |
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| Treacodactyl |
Great idea. Following on from Bugs' post about our bath water I must sort something out within the next couple of months to collect the bath water into a water butt. Hopefully it's simple and could be added to the article? | ||||
| Cathryn |
Develop a serious problem with your septic tank/cess pit - you will never squander water again
Good idea this thread. I will be converting the washing machine back to lawn overflow soon - but we have too much water here and would be coming back in the house if I did that now. Buy any new cisterns with the two flush capacity options. Convert old ones by adding a brick or one of the expandable bags that some water companies send you for free. (Or you can pick up at CAT next time you visit) Cure all drips - we have a fault on our shower (our b***** plumbing is driving me up the wall ) and leave the head in a bucket (which we then use to flush with) you would be amazed how much collects - large buckets full in a few hours. Similarly with the toilet - and I have had the plumber back so many times....
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| Cathryn |
Re toothbrushing - I think we can do it in less than a cup. Wet head at beginning - mouthfull for swilling and quick hot rinse of the brush head at the end. | ||||
| Lozzie |
Some excellent tips avaialable online, as ever -
http://www.cat.org.uk/information/catinfo.tmpl?command=search&db=catinfo.db&eqSKUdatarq=20020925160005 CAT don't recommend treatnig rainwater to make it potable,  even with those funky UV filters that you see in large fish ponds, keeping the water clear.
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| Penny |
Interesting conversation with my dentist last time I visited; re swilling. He said swill with a little water three times before you start to brush, to get the saliva off your teeth, then put a tiny bit of toothpaste on a dry brush and brush, then at the end, don't rinse, just spit. This uses about 1/2 cup water. Quite odd when you first do it, but you soon get used to it, but great for saving water, and your mouth feels good too. Anyone else had this advice? |
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| Lozzie |
Actually, yes - my dentist recommended leaving toothpaste on your teeth as a way to help whiten them a little (I drink far too much tea  ) so this advice would make sense!
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| dougal |
My favourite was: "Bath with a friend".
The major 'home' uses of water are typically bathing and flushing the loo. These are therefore the areas where the greatest impact can be made. - showering should use less water than bathing, however prolonged individual use of a power shower can upset this assumption. - for those without showers, remember the WWII edict that baths should be filled no more than 4 (was it?) inches deep. - flushing the loo with 'wastewater' is an obvious, though not generally convenient measure. - provision of adequate and discreet (outdoor?) bucket facilities should result in the collection of lots of liquid compost accelerator, while also saving flushing water. (Remember that survial experts teach that urine is perfectly drinkable, and sterile enough for use to bathe wounds.) I would agree that clothes washing water is better reused, and for reuse its better the less detergent it has. And that most people use excess detergent. However, any unqualified recommendation to use Eco-balls puts the whole thing into the realm of "Crystal Healing Magic" and destroys its credibility. |
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| Penny |
 Eureka!!!! (That was the bath thing wasn't it  )
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| sean |
I'd have thought that those UV filter jobbies are probably quite energy intensive to make and run. In fact I'm slightly surprised that Dougal didn't provide figures. | ||||
| dougal |
Dougal knows s*d all about UV water purification!
Don't we have a medic a biologist or a water industry pro around? |
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| Haddock |
We save the 5 Liters that our shower uses before hot water comes out to fill up our 200L water butt outside.
All houses that are on our housing estate here in Germany have a rain Harvetsing system. Water from the roof is filtered and fed into an underground storage tank. Some houses have a hand pump that this water can be used for watering the garden in the summer months. Other houses (ours included) has an electic pump that delivers water to our toilets for flushing, to the washing machine and to the outside for watering the garden. Our storage tank is 4500L. This sort of thing is catching on quite well her in Germany. |
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| Lozzie |
You're quitye right Sean - in another thread I posted something from C.A.T along the lines of "Treating rainwater to a high standard, suitable for bathing or even for drinking, is not something we would recommend. Not only is it very expensive, but also the impact of all the equipment that you would need will outweigh any environmental benefits of reducing mains water use. Small-scale water treatment systems use lots of energy in manufacture and use, and the filters need to be regularly replaced - so creating waste. If you are not on mains water, collecting and treating rainwater is an option, but in the UK it is usually preferable to use groundwater or even a stream - as this water often needs less treatment. Treating rainwater to a higher level is more suitable in dry countries with scarce supplies (like Australia), or places with a very dirty groundwater supply (such as Germany). In these cases, the extra expense and energy needed can be justified against the alternatives." Dougal, whilst I agree that eco-balls are basically a pile of pants, please I beg you do not compare them to healing crystals. I simply couldn't bear it. 
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| cab |
Here's a few little tips I think people should follow. And a question or two.
If you must wash your car, don't do it with a hose. I hate seeing people hose down their cars, its just a waste. Why not just sponge down the windows and the lights, the bits that actually have to be clean? Mulch. Use plenty of mulch in the garden, dig in plenty of water retaining organic matter too. Makes a big difference to how much you have to water. Urinate on the compost heap. Maybe not all the time. Can urine also be used as a lawn feed (watered down a little?). Vegetable washign water can go onto the flower beds. Next time you buy a washing machine, make both energy and water efficiency factors. It'll cost you a couple of quid more perhaps, but it'll easily save you more money in the long run. Get your digging done early in the year. You don't want to be digging when the weather warms up, you want it done by March. Do it later and you'll lose a lot of moisture from the soil. Water butts are great. Wonderful things. Especially if you keep carnivorous plants, you need the rainwater. Did we ever clarify whether using a hose pipe and pumping/siphonign water from the bath into another water butt would be legal during a hosepipe ban? Oh, and when you plant out things that really do need lots of water, think about how you're going to water them. Placcy bottles cut in two and put into the ground next to your tomatoes allow you to water right to the roots. Planting courgettes in little depressions in the ground really helps keep them watered too. |
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| nettie |
Thank for the ideas folks - I'm looking to run a little pond pump from my bath to the flower beds and veg pots - has anyone tried this with any success, and if so what pump would you recommend? | ||||
| Treacodactyl |
Just thinking about this again and I think I'll make a little watering chart. IIRC most plants don't need watering that often, if anything the plants grow stonger if they only have a good water once a week rather than a light shower every day, so I'll write down a weekly list of what to water when so we don't over water plants. It helps that we'll have to carry watering cans up a steep slope to get to the plants. | ||||
| ken69 |
Interesting thread, Lozzie.....am thinking of converting this aged automatic washing machine to accept filtered rainwater. Does anyone think this is possible,. e.g. does it rely on mains pressure to work. Could I put a holding tank above the machine and run the red and blue pipes to it, and rely on gravity to feed the machine. I accept that it will be a cold water wash. ????? Just had a thought, could I put rainwater straight into the drum. | ||||
| Lozzie |
good question, Ken - I had a root around on my favourite website, The Yellow House - http://theyellowhouse.org.uk/
George Marshall found that harvesting and using rainwater was too complicated a process for him to consider under his set of cirumstances - " We considered supplying the toilets with grey water collected from rain water. There are commercial systems available, but the require water treatment systems, pumps and storage tanks in the roof and separate plumbing. We felt they were too expensive and use too much space for a small terraced house. The Nottingham Ecohouse has a rainwater system and the are details on their website." So I duly trundled over to the Nottingham Ecohouse website - http://www.msarch.co.uk/ecohome/ and discovered it belongs to our friend Penney Poyzer **waves** from the BBC's "No Waste Like Home" series. " The rainwater goods have been replaced. The original cast iron gutters and downpipes were damaged and leaky in places and - because of their age - rusty. Copper was chosen for the new gutters and downpipes, which form an integral part of the rainwater harvesting strategy. Although more expensive than some other options, copper does not rust and turn the water orange and has a mild disinfecting affect on the water - particularly relevant for storage of untreated rainwater. Gil & Penney also fell in love with its appearance, both before and after it forms the patina layer - a pale green called verdi gris. At the foot of the two downpipes rainwater filters by WISY can be seen. These rely on the fact that water spirals down the inside edge of the downpipe. A mesh filters dirt and leaves and the water is diverted into the cellar for storage. Externally, the rainwater is supplied to the garden tap on the side of the house." As far as I can see, she stores the water in her basement (which means it MUST have some kind of pump, right?) and uses is for garden tap, flushing loos and washing machine. Erm so ... "yes", is the answer you wanted, I believe. brevity. Not my strong point |
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| ken69 |
...erm...see what you mean..... .....thank you for the search...new to me Penny's site..will save most of it for later.
Will try next wash to tip rainwater into drum, it must have a sensor to tell machine to top up and move on.Do a 'Gentle refresh' mostly, very little water....and then finish off on 1000 rev spin. Main loo flush here are buckets of rainwater, with a daily ex cistern wash. Personal washing is with rainwater from a kettle and a minimal daily (electric) shower. The hot water cylinder water is hardly used, only when doing soiled clothing, annual water bill about £50, even less if this rainwater/washing machine thingy works. Have tried teamaking with rainwater but prefer tap stuff.. Nice to talk. |
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| Cathryn |
I have started leaving the bucket in the shower with me - makes me speed up and then the water can be used to flush with. Now to "persuade" the children to do the same. | ||||
| Lozzie |
I do that too Ruby
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| dpack |
[.
dont drink urine . for wound cleaning it is ace , you can distill it for the water content but drinking urine is bad news for your chemistry , think "why is my body getting rid of those dissolved chemicals " |
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| dpack |
use less , collect more , reuse many times then irrigate the crops .
if you must drink body fluids ...the liquid in a herbivores stomach is horrid but safe , blood plasma (not whole blood ) is isotonic like sports drinks .the clear liquid from the swim bladder of sea fish is also pretty good . sea water , urine , petrol , antifreeze , etc , etc , dont go there . if water is really rare dont eat , smoke or go out in the midday sun . |
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| Lozzie |
And don't forget to make sure you ONLY breathe in and out through your nose. Yes, I have read "Dune", too 
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| Bugs |
That's handy - when TD was reading the Woodland House book Ben Law mentioned that he used copper guttering etc but we couldn't find the reasoning behind it, so that's one less thing to confuse me. Plenty of others to tkae its place though. |
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| bernie-woman |
It is an interesting concept that perhaps you do not need to water veggie plants at all - on Gardeners World there was a guy on the allotment who swore to Monty Don that he never waters anything on his allotment at all and hadn't noticed an decrease in fruiting or crop yield 
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| Treacodactyl |
Copper is now traditionally used in plumbing but it would have been good to know Ben's exact reason. I didn't know about the disinfecting affect, I wonder if Ben did? |