Water....

Since the World is mostly made up of water, It seems that there should be enough for every use and to spare. Sadly that is not the case in many parts of the world. Even here in the US there are places where water costs a large portion of a family's income. 

Until I moved away from home, my water came from a shallow, non-chlorinated, non-fluoridated family well. There were many necessary 'rules' for the use of the water to assure that the well would not run out, especially in the heat of Summer. 

As a child we had no bathroom, so baths were in the 'wash tub' (a large, round, metal tub with a flat bottom used for laundry as well)  in front of the kitchen stove on which the water was heated. The smallest child bathed first, then the next sized child bathed, and so on, until all in the house had bathed in the same water.

White clothes and linens were laundered first, then the light colored cloth and finally dark colored items in the same water. Afterward, each load was rinsed in clean water.

By the time I was ten years old, my father had installed a modern bathroom with hot and cold running water! Only two inches of water was allowed to be run into the tub for each person to take a bath. The toilet was allowed... and encouraged... to be flushed after each use.

Non-pre-rinsed dishes were cleaned in two small tubs of water, one for soap to clean them and the other to rinse them. Neither tubs of water were emptied, until all dishes were 'clean'.  Because of this, glasses were washed and rinsed first, then silverware, followed by plates, bowls and serving dishes in that order, with pots and pans last. 

Teeth were brushed by filling a cup with water, sticking the brush into the water and then into the baking soda box and brushing the teeth with it. The brush was rinsed in the cup and then the water in the cup used to rinse the mouth.

As the years passed, the preconditioning of my upbringing faded and conserving water lost it's impending importance.... 

until now. 

When we first moved to our current home, the water bill was approximately $10 per month for a family of five. This week the bill came to approximately $37 for a family of two!!!! 

OUCH!!!

Just as we are about to retire and our income become fixed, the cost of living... existing... is getting out of control!!! Thus there are some conservation measures which seem necessary in order to maintain some semblance of comfortable living, but returning to my early childhood level of tight restraint is not acceptable, if not for health reasons, for sanity. 

Therefore, here are some sensible, practical rules, 
which hopefully will help reduce the cost of water:

1) take short, conservative showers --- wet the body, turn water of, soap up, turn water on, rinse soap off. Maybe a button could be installed, which runs the water for short bursts.

2)  fill a glass with water to rinse teeth instead of catching the water with hands, while watching most of it go down the drain.

 3) wet hands to wash them, turn off the water, wash, then turn water on to rinse them. Or plug and fill sink and wash in the water, rinsing under faucet

4) rinse veggies, fruit, dishes etc with faucet half on, turn off between rinses

5) make sure faucet is completely off to prevent leaks, fix leaky faucets

6) use collected rain water to water garden

7) collect and store gray water to water grass and flowers

Other ideas are most welcome!!!