${gotBlog.title}

Controlling The Flow: Conserving Water One Family At A Time

Posted by David Brostrom on March 1, 2010

Water. It’s the new W word. In Waukesha, water diversion news is bubbling everywhere. The enormous scale, complex civil engineering, and delicate politics necessary to implement this project is mind-boggling, especially to a math-phobic English major. So, for now I’ve decided to recycle my articles on Waukesha’s best water options and return to something I’m more comfortable with – conserving water by making good choices.

I’m not a water efficiency expert, but I know what I’ve done and what our family is going to pursue in the future to conserve water and meet our monthly budget. I urge others to follow suit. It’s the right thing to do, it improves neighborhoods, it saves money. {With recent news from the Waukesha Water Utility that quarterly water bills will more than double in the future, the time to conserve is today. The estimated size of our future Rawlins Drive water bill will be staggering – unless we continue to cut back in ways I mention below, it will cost nearly $1,000 annually, or $250 quarterly.)

I started thinking seriously about conserving water on our property three years ago, when we decided to build a 1,200 square foot vegetable and flower garden. The main motivation to build this two-tier garden was directly tied to water. Persistent rains over three decades deeply eroded our hillside. Once supportive railroad ties rotted away and caved. Mowing the eroded slope became dangerous. Water definitely controlled this part of our property. Fortunately, the terraced garden project reversed that power struggle.

After the garden was completed, I bought a rain barrel kit from the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District to capture roof water runoff (how come I can’t get one from my Utility?), installed efficient soaker hoses, started a compost pile so our huge growing space would be mulched properly, tightened outside spigots, and bought a battery-powered lawnmower. With the mower blade set high, we save over 500 gallons of evaporation each summer month, except during a drought. Mulching preserves hundreds of extra gallons of water each summer, as does early morning garden watering and no supplemental lawn watering.

The biggest water saver inside was upgrading to two WaterSense-approved Kohler toilets. We save more than 1,000 gallons per year with these 1.28 flow toilets. The source -- http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions. The Waukesha Water Utility also has a rebate program for these water-friendly units. The tub leak is fixed, and all inside plumbing is tight and dry, potentially saving us 10 gallons of water each day. Next up? A front-loaded washing machine – they can save an amazing 5,000-7,000 gallons yearly! Plus a high tech dishwasher and high-efficiency water heater (see Steve B's blog for more details).

Our family’s ecological bent doesn’t put a dent in Waukesha’s water problems. However, if thousands of residents followed suit the impact would be huge. Alot is at stake -- other cities are waiting in the wings to see the moves we make. Here’s how Project Conserve could work. Our family conserves 3,000 gallons of water every year. When 5,000 families do the same, our community saves 15 million gallons per year. Then let’s say that 5,000 residents upgrade to front-loading washing machines and efficient dishwashers -- that saves an additional 35 million gallons of water each year! That's 50 million gallons saved.

Water conservation on a small scale is gratifying. Water conservation on a grand scale helps us control the flow of our money.