The July Power and Water Report

It’s the last day of JULY and my month devoted to reducing my water and power consumption!!!  Tomorrow, I’ll put up the post that defines my August challenge to reduce my “superfluous web browsing” (in addition to taking a Facebook hiatus).  But before moving to the fresh and new, here’s my end-of-July wrap up.  First, I want to report what I did to reduce my water and power consumption in the rooms that my home tour did not visit.  Then we’ll look at my month-end bathroom water stats to find out how mellow my water yellowed. (I know, eww…)

Underthings tumbling

As my month of reduced water and electricity consumption starts to wind down, it's Laundry Day, where we pop into my laundry room to look at how I've been cutting water and electricity use in that realm of the household.

But before we poke through my present dirty laundry, let's look at my dirty laundry a few years ago.  I wrote last time about the dish washing process at Punta Mona, the permaculture organic farm in Costa Rica where I spent the summer of 2009.  In many ways, the things I'm doing this month are things that I had to practice while at Punta Mona.  For example, my showers:  like at the Mona, I get in, get wet, and then turn off the power.  Then I shampoo and lather.  Turn on water to rinse.  Turn off, condition and shave.  Turn on water to rinse.  Done. 

For the love of God, please do not urinate in the showers!

Actually, the above description leaves out a Punta Mona step I've been including in my showers: every time I took a shower while at Punta Mona, I washed at least 1 piece of clothing, even if it was my bathing suit.  At home, I do this while the water warms up (which was NOT part of the Punta Mona shower experience).  Since I frequently shower post-running, I pre-rinse my running bra, running pants, and sometimes a shirt or underwear under the running faucet while it heats.  Then, after I'm all soaped up, I soap my clothes up.  And then when I rinse, I also rinse them too.  This process adds a little to my shower time, and I'm not sure it is the most effective method.  But it has cut down on how often I need to do laundry.

Wash my dishes!

The Coziest Kitchen in Central America!

In the July of 2009, I packed up my backpack and I took off to Costa Rica to spend a month as an intern at Punta Mona, a permaculture farm on the south Caribbean coast.  It was definitely an off-the-grid experience, with very limited electricity and running water.  The solar panels needed a part that was unavailable in the nearest towns, so the kitchen was the only area of the farm that we had access to electricity at all during my stay, and even there, we only ran the lights during the dinner hours.  The rest of the time, we relied on candles and headlamps and battery- or solar-powered devices and chargers.  You'd think we would have slept more given the fact that the sun set around 6 PM every night.  Not true... 

Holla! Who needs an electric alarm clock when these guys will wake you at 5 AM?

In terms of the water situation, we used rainwater that was collected in a huge basin, located up a hill from the farm center.  The water ran through pvc pipes to the kitchen sink, to the bathroom sink and the laundry sink, to the showers, and to the greenhouse.  I believe we had a separate rainwater catchment system for drinking water, equipped with a filter.  My knowledge of the exact workings of the water system was limited, for sure.  But it was impossible not to be aware of the shortage.  If the pipe from the hill came apart somewhere along the way, we'd have no water until someone found the detached joint and repaired it.  Depending on the showering and watering of the residents, the water flow varied.  It never blasted from the faucets, at most there would be a steady, small flow.  More typically, a dismal, slow trickle.

Let It Mellow.

As I said in my last post, we'll be examining my water and power consumption habits, and efforts to reduce that consumption, room by room this month, starting with:

THE BATHROOM

First, a few fun facts* about water consumption in the bathroom:

• A running faucet uses 3 gallons of water per minute.
  
• Flushing the toilet accounts for 26.7% of daily residential indoor water use.**
  
• The average bath uses about 50 gallons of water.
  
• The average shower uses 3 gallons per minute, or ~25-45 gallons for a shower. (That means the average shower runs between 8 and 15 minutes.)
  

*Source: King County Water Saving Tips

**Source: American Water Works Association Research Foundation, "Residential End Uses of Water"

To find out what my water consumption in the bathroom was before this month, I did some data collection last month. I put two index cards on the wall of my bathroom and hung a sharpened pencil from the towel bar. On one card, I did a running tally of how often I flushed the toilet. I did not require visitors to my home to tally their flushes, nor did I keep a tally of how many times I flushed when at work, at the gym, at friends' homes, or during my five-day vacation. This tally specifically looked at my flushing habits in the privacy of my own home. Let's dive in, shall we

Turn Your Lights Down Low

Not my s'more: Flickr user Eric Dickman's (Creative Commons)

I ate two s'mores last night.  With dark Hersheys chocolate--caffeinated chocolate!  Hooray for the end of Consume Less Caffeine June!  That said, I haven't really jumped back on the caffeine wagon just yet.  I think it took the whole 30 days without a trace of it for me to finally feel normal without it, so I know caffeine has super powers over me.  I'm reluctant to let it waltz back into my life and take over control of my energy again.  So you'll just have to appreciate the little time we have together, caffeine, and stop bugging me for more.  Coffee, I mean YOU.

Meanwhile, Operation Consumption Liberation has moved into the month of reduced power and water usage.  Before I dive any further, please note the "reduced" in that last sentence.  Nope, this is not "consume NO power or water" month.  I am not going all "Little House on the Prairie," cooking all my meals over a fire, reading by candlelight, washing my dishes in rainwater and water pulled from my well.  

Reading by candlelight... Not so good on my eyes.

Blame it on the alcohol.

Welcome to Operation Consumption Liberation March MADNESS.  The cr-a-a-a-zy Monthly Mission?  To consume no alcohol!  The guidelines?  Here they are:

1. Don't drink any alcohol this month, and
2. Don't drink any alcohol this month.

Yup, it is that simple. But for all you contrary people in the cyber-verse:
 
     3. Yes, I can have red wine vinaigrette and use wine in food recipes, and if I'm inclined to gargle
         Listerine, so be it.  And cold syrup. But not as a beverage.  Kapeesh?  

So that's it.  I have to tell you, the amount of apprehension I'm getting from friends and family members about this month's challenge is amusing me.  One family member suggested maybe we wait to get together until next month when hearing I wouldn't be chugging the alcohol (in jest, to be fair).  Most friends have reacted with a mixture of shock and awe.  And I'm hear to tell you: this is not a big deal.  For me.  But I'm starting to be a little concerned about all of you...

Like about everyone I know, there is alcoholism in my family history.  Not a ton, but there have been family members who spent time in rehab and family members who made the decision to switch to O'Doul's at some point in their lives.  And I confess, I love me a glass of red wine, or a vodka tonic, or a nice pale ale or crisp chardonnay in the summer time.  If I had to put a number on my average weekly alcohol consumption over the past few months, I'd guess around four. That number is up from my typical average last year of two--what can I say, I've been spending too much time with other red wine drinkers and hosting too many dinners.

Sunday dinner alone with my book and wine.

As much I like the wine, I went alcohol-less from Friday to Friday last week.  And then I drank 2 glasses every night for the last four nights.  (I was bulking up for March.)  But during that alcohol-less week, I hardly noticed its absence, and I certainly didn't miss it one bit.  In fact, I've been feeling a little crummy and sluggish the last few days, and perpetually dehydrated.  What's that?  You say alcohol dehydrates a person?  Seems like I could use a little detox, and a little hydration right about  now.

So for the month of March, I would like to set a parallel goal to drink more water every day.  Because dehydration causes migraines, and kidney stones.  And because it's nice to drink water.  If you want to join me, either in giving up the hooch, or picking up some agua, please do!  It will be easy, and your liver will thank you.