So Liz found out about the
40 Hour Drought that ABC Local Radio is organising, and we both thought it would be an entertaining way to find out just how hard our farmers are toughing it.
We realise that most people reading this blog will not be doing the same, probably because you haven't heard of the idea, but more likely because of the fact that water is so amazingly cheap here that you have no incentive whatsoever to reduce your consumption. For example, our water tanks, which are being installed in about three weeks time, will save us something like $13 per quarter in the estimates we have been given.
Hardly financial incentive to get them installed, when the cost is quite a way north of $5000.
(People don't seem to realise - the vast majority of your water bill is the sewerage and the service charge. Actual water consumed is a small fraction of the cost. Check yours and have a look)
Anyway, here's a log of our efforts to use no more than 40 liters of water each in 40 hours - the drought started 7:00am this morning.
Tim's first 17 hours total: 15.85L
Liz's first 17 hours total: 12.5L
6:00 Alarm goes off. I decide that what I want to do before the drought starts won't take me an hour, re-set the alarm and go back to sleep.
6:30 Wake and shower. Yes, it's slightly cheating doing this before the drought starts, but we're still going to have to work out bathing inside the drought, plus as always we have a bucket to catch the pre-hot water and the water gets turned off while I'm soaping up.
Shave too, justifying this one by saying I would just grow a beard were I in real drought conditions. Actually I pretty much did earlier in the week, and was almost going to leave it that way on Monday morning.
6:55 Liz half-flushes the toilet, ridding us of the night's mellow yellow.
7:00 We're in drought conditions! I go and take a photo of the water meter, I'll post it here later, along with the reading.
7:05 0.25L of water each for tea/coffee. I use a stove-top coffee pot, and even if I want one cup I always fill it to save gas. The coffee I have this morning has been sitting there for a few days, and I just add hot water. Tastes good enough.
7:15 Decide that all the washing up should be done later, in one go, so that we can better judge our water usage.
7:45 Half-flush the toilet, however the inlet tap has been turned off and we fill the cistern with 4.5L of grey water we have previously claimed from the shower with a bucket, taps with a smaller container, etc., when we were washing hands and faces. Wash hands with a bit of soap and bucket of grey water. Will debate/decide whether this 4.5L counts at a later date, as we had it saved from before the drought!
9:10 Do my washing up at work,
0.25L as I use the water from one thing into another, minimising the amount I get out of the tap. Also grab a bit from other people who take their items away before the tap has finished running.
9:15 Fill up my water bottle at work,
0.75L. We have a really stupid cold filtered drinking water tap in our tiny "kitchen" at work, which runs on for about 30 seconds after you turn it off. Supposedly this is something to do with the pressure filter system draining everything out of the pipe so as not to over pressurise, but exactly the same system and tap on other floors of this building don't do the same thing. Lots of people couldn't be bothered waiting and just loose that last water (it's about 0.25L that runs on) down the drain. Those who do choose to wait (such as, obviously, me), have to turn it off early and hope you guessed the right amount to fill your drinking vessel.
We often wonder how much working time per year is wasted to this tap, and obviously how much water.
10:45 Ate an apple at work. It was from our
Organic fruit and veg box, so I didn't need to rinse it. Cleaned my hands afterwards with a bit of water from my drink bottle.
12:30 Empty results of drinking water. We have waterless urinals here at work so no problems there. Washed hands with the most amazingly small amount of water, I'll be unkind and call it
0.1L.
13:00 Lunch was some left-over Risotto, haven't washed up the box yet. Filled up water bottle again - supposedly
0.75L, although I suspect that is an over-estimate and I'll check that out later. Despite an orange as well, I managed to avoid washing my hands.
15:20 Another waterless urinal trip, wash hands with tiny amount of water again. I'm going to roll it into the first trip's allowance.
Also, my share of a pot of coffee is 0.25L.
17:00 Toilet flush and wash hands, probably
9L. Ouch. Can't get away with that much on this budget.
18:00 Band rehearsal - finish off my bottle of water. Afterwards we have dinner - me a steak, chips and salad with a couple of beers. This was all purchased - does that mean the water used in the rearing and preparation doesn't count? Not sure. I wouldn't know how to guess anyway, other than the fact that meat is a horribly un-sustainable way to eat so I'm sure it's not good.
22:45 Water the back garden with the remnants of the beer now that it's dark :)
Liz's totals for the day:
Brushing teeth, face, hands, etc:
1L
Drinking:
2L
Bird and dog:
0.5L
Two half-flushes of toilet (with greywater though):
9L
My parents will be quick to tell you that as a teenager I was one to spend 10-15 minutes in the shower without much thought. Why not? There's plenty of water, and power to heat it, and besides I had more important things to do like adolescence and general
Tracked: Jun 14, 00:31