Water rationing

[canecutter]

Due to the extreme drought and heat the water supply lakes are drying up in our area. One has two weeks left. We are inevitably heading for extreme measures by the water supply companies. We have never come close to this. we normally get 50-60 inches a year.
Any advice from those who have experienced it or live in dryer climates?

[Beowulf]

1) Unless the smell gets bad, only flush solid waste. Allow liquid waste to accumulate in the commode until there is solid waste to flush.

2) Unless it is growing food for you, don't water it. Lawns will grow back or can be replanted.

3) If you do have to water (crops, etc) do it after 6pm (after dark, if possible).

4) Turn off the water if you are not using it - allowing water to run in the sink while shaving, brushing teeth, washing hands, etc, is a huge waste of water.

5) Fix leaking faucets.

I'm sure there are more, but that's all I can think of off the top of my head. I practice all of these myself and I average $50.00 per month on the water bill. I recently had to begin watering the foundation of the house, but the owner of the property takes the difference from my rent.

[greengrow]

You can save water from washing clothes, dishes etc for watering plants.

Watering plants at night as Beowulf says makes a huge differance

[Harry Chickpea]

Clothes and dishes are two big users. Since being on a cistern, I get to see firsthand what uses water. FWIW, the water efficient washers may only be efficient at ONE setting. Check your manuals. Washing by hand may be more efficient.

[KimTN]

I lived in England on a dry year and my dad made us save all bath and shower water so that he could keep his roses alive. He even made a small pump that would suck every last drop of water out of the tub. Gray water can be used for your garden purposes.

[oth47]

I hope the folks in Texas get some rain..a lot of Tennessee's weather comes out of Texas.I need some water on my okra,only thing left.

[Harry Chickpea]

If your okra is producing, cut the leaves off. It'll produce equally well, and not need as much water.

[giddy]

cane, have you gotten any rain today? I live in southern Oklahoma and we finally got almost 3 1/2" this morning. I thought it was moving that way. Hopefully you will get some too.

[keenataz]

We used to leave bath/shower water in tub and with a bucket used it to flush the smelly stuff

[Forerunner]

Forgo that flush toilet and use the sawdust model.
Use the rinse water from your cleaner wash to prewash your work clothes.

[ladycat]

Originally Posted by canecutter

Due to the extreme drought and heat the water supply lakes are drying up in our area. One has two weeks left. We are inevitably heading for extreme measures by the water supply companies. We have never come close to this. we normally get 50-60 inches a year.
Any advice from those who have experienced it or live in dryer climates?

Wow, that's bad for East Texas, you usually don't have that kind of drought there!

[Ken Scharabok]

If you are going to use washer water for plants you need something larger than a 5-gallon bucket or it is likely to spash out the top. Might work with a 5-gallon plastic jug and a jury rigged table.

Fortunately I'm have far more water (spring, year-around spring run and creek). However, I can switch my washwater over to a gray water by just switching where the washer hose goes. About once a month I'll let the washwater go down the regular downpipe to flush out the plumbing system.

Have the men in your house pee into an empty bleach jug. When getting full pour around plants. Urea in urine is a fertilizer.

Marine bath: Use wet washcloth. Wipe face, underarms, head, feet and crotch.

Navy shower: Wet down for ten seconds. Stop water and lather. Rinse off for no more than 50 seconds (and when the ship was low on water there were guys who put a stopwatch on you). You can get an on/off flow regulor for shower head so you don't have to readjust water temperature.

Depending on how much room you have underneath your sink, take off the trap and let it drain into a bucket.

You can put in a bathtub stopper and scoop out bath or shower water for gray water.

As my mother was aging she lived with one of my sisters who use to bathe her. Mom would fuss if more than 2" of water were put into the tub, since that is what she was use to as a child.

With a bit of effort you can get it down to where the only waste water is flushing solids down the commode.

You know, bath towels are not single use. If family fusses, assign them an individual towel to last for a week. Underware and socks really can be worn more than one day. Unless it has changed, it isn't unusual in parts of Europe to only change clothes once or twice a week.

[Jolly]

Need a nice Cat I hurricane or even better, a tropical storm.

Anything with 8-10 inches of rain...

[Ken Scharabok]

I am in West-central TN just east of KY Lake. Observation is if a hurricane hits MS or LA, it will swing to the northeast and pass through the Nasvhille area. Only if it comes ashore in TX does it stand a good change of coming over us.

Don't remember what recent year FL had three back-to-back hurricanes. The eye of all three passed within about 12 miles of one of my sister's house. One blew their trees so they were slanted. Next one straightened them out again.

[ldc]

Just a suggestion; please do not water garden/crops at night; it makes for mold and fungus problems. To save water and evaporation, it usually is better to water at dawn. ldc

[Belfrybat]

I second the vote for a sawdust "urinal". I've used a sawdust toilet for many years, and when I moved here, even though I have a flusher, I only use it for solids. The double-duty usage of a sawdust urinal is the fact it makes wonderful compost as well.

[Cyngbaeld]

My gray water all runs to a small pond that the ducks play in. I pump that to the garden. Garden looks great and hasn't needed additional fertilizer. I only use Borax, lye soap and washing soda, no chemicals or commercial detergents.

[meanwhile]

We use gray water and also harvest spring water and rain water. Try reading from these sites.

The best three sites are:

http://www.harvestingrainwater.com/

http://www.oasisdesign.net/index.htm

http://greywateraction.org/

Also, The World Health Organization has great links re drinking water:
http://www.who.int/topics/drinking_water/en/

[texican]

When push comes to shove, you only need a gallon of water per person per day. Anything beyond that is wasted.

I guarantee you this.................... when there is no more water available, at any price, you'll only be drinking with it. No more washing, cleaning, watering lawns, etc.

What to do about it? If you plan on livin in the same place, drill a deep well, get multiple ways of getting the water out of the ground, or dig a deep pond/lake/reservoir of your own. I survived (barely) the drought of 97. I enlarged my pond to ensure I didn't get burned again... I'm down 42" so far, it's ugly ugly ugly looking at my reservoir... but I still have a good 30' of water left.

[gila_dog]

Originally Posted by KimTN

I lived in England on a dry year and my dad made us save all bath and shower water so that he could keep his roses alive. He even made a small pump that would suck every last drop of water out of the tub. Gray water can be used for your garden purposes.

A desert-rat would then use the water from the tub to flush his toilet. Dip it out with a bucket, dump in the loo, and away it all goes.