While many of us think of climate change as the crisis of our lifetimes, the truth of the matter is we may run out of fresh, clean drinking water long before the Easy-Bake Oven effects of global warming destroy the earth’s capacity to house and feed us.
The Water Cycle courtesy of the USGS
WATER (HYDROLOGICAL) CYCLE
Let’s take a look at a simplified version of what we all learned in school: the water or hydrological cycle. As the earth warms, water evaporates from the oceans, lakes, streams and so on, then, through condensation, forms clouds. Eventually water falls back to Earth as rain or snow. Technically, water falling from the sky is called precipitation. Over land, precipitation is either absorbed or collects as snow on mountaintops. When rain is absorbed into the ground, the water is either used by plants or filters through to recharge underground aquifers. Some of the water from plants is released again into the atmosphere in a process called transpiration. As the seasons change and snow melts, water flows into streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean and the evaporation –> condensation –> precipitation process repeats.
So what’s the big deal and why is Green Landlady constantly harping on the fact that we are in a fresh water crisis?
Take a look at the hydrological cycle again. What’s missing? Lots of people, loss of vegetation and cities plus the way cities are constructed with asphalt and concrete and buildings. Our cities are not designed with the water cycle in mind. They are designed to send rain water away into a sewer system and not to nourish plants or into the ground to help replenish our underground supplies. This has caused a severe disruption to the water cycle, so severe that we must not only conserve fresh, clean water, but also find ways to replenish or put water back into the ground.
RESIDENT ACTION PLAN
Reduce
- Keep showers short, short, short. Use a kitchen timer and keep showers to less than five minutes. I know it’s hard, but do try.
- Always run a full load in the dishwasher and use a bin or the stopper in your drain when washing dishes. Do not let the water flow while washing dishes.
- You know the old saying: “if it’s yellow, then its mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down”? In my house, the only exceptions to this rule are when we have guests or are guests. Now more than ever, using fresh, clean drinking water to flush our waste makes absolutely no sense, but it’s the way our systems are constructed and we have to make the best of it.
- Front-loading clothes washers use a third of the water of top-loaders and generous rebates abound. If you have top-loaders in your laundry room, you may want to point out this little fact to management. They might appreciate knowing they can save money and the planet at the same time.
- Ask the property owner or manager to install water saving aerators in the sinks and low flow shower heads in the bathrooms. If they won’t, ask them if they would be willing to install them, if you paid for them. Point out that they’ll be saving money too. Also, many water districts offer free water audits and water saving devices.
Reuse
- You can help by keeping a large pot or plastic bin in the sink and whenever you wash your hands or rinse vegetables, do it over the basin. This water must not have any bits of food in it, particularly meat! On a daily or as needed basis feed this water to household plants (they transpire) or take it outside and give it to the trees and shrubs near your apartment.
Recycle
- Earth’s water cycle will take care of this for you, if you give it a chance. If the actions I’ve outlined don’t seem like enough or you have more ideas, please share them with us and with others.
Finally, when looking for apartments, ask about water-saving features: aerators, flow rates on toilets, sinks and shower heads. Look for and ask about rain barrels and check for front-loading clothes washers in the laundry room. At first, property managers may not be willing to make changes, but you have to keep the pressure on them. You may even need to educate them and offer assistance. Good luck and remember there are a lot of things we can live without, but water isn’t one of them!
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