Down The Drain - Part One

A couple of weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a wedding of a friend in Traverse City, Michigan. Following yet another international move back to the states and a few months of hard work and settling back in, I was looking forward to spend a weekend in an exciting vacation location. A day after we arrived to Traverse City we decided to head out and explore the area, focusing on Old Mission Peninsula. Our first stop was the Mission Point Lighthouse at the tip of the peninsula. The lighthouse was built in 1870 to mark the gate point to Grand Traverse West Arm and East Arm bays.

The one thing that caught my attention when we got to the lighthouse was how far inland the lighthouse has been. A second glance made me realize it wasn't that far out, it was the lake that was receding from the original shoreline.

Lake Michigan and with it Lake Huron have been losing water to the ocean, to evaporation and to human consumption in great amounts in the past 20 years. Lake Michigan lost 6 feet from its average water level. A small chart in one of the rooms in the lighthouse showed the fluctuations over the past 150 years and the continuous drop at the end.

I chatted with the caretakers of the lighthouse briefly about this. Lake Michigan is one of the biggest sources of above ground sweet water in the world. Its water serve most of the Mid West. The lower the water level drops, the lower the quality of the water drops and the more scarce drinking water will become in the area. All these call for better care of the Lakes water and better conservation of it.

The honest truth is – whether we are from the Mid West or not, we can all do better to conserve water. The United States doubled its population in the past 50 years and 36 states are now facing water shortages. By taking a few small actions we can save up to 30% of our water consumption at home without making big lifestyle changes. Here are the first two steps to take to prevent some of our drinking water from going down the drain:

1. Install aerators in your faucets and showers – Low flow aerators help increase your faucets and showers' water pressure while lowering water waste. The science behind it is pretty simple, the aerators are built in a way that mixes air into the flow of the water. You will feel like you're using a lot of water while you'll be saving about 30% from what you used before. Aerators are relatively cheap and very easy to install. Spending these few dollars and two minutes of installing can save you tens of dollars and gallons of water every year.




2. Refit your toilet – Dual Flush – this is a trending change in the south west, but other countries, like Israel and Jordan have a long tradition of dual flush toilets. Dual flush valves allow you to choose the amount of water you want to use after using the toilet. You can choose the full amount for solids or 0.5-0.7 of the amount for liquids. Given that an average flush sends about 1.6 gallons of water down the drain, you can save up to 3 gallons of drinking water every day by using the dual flush valve. The prices for dual flush valves varry based on the type you need for your toilet (you might want to get a new toilet altogether). Either way, very much like the aerator it will save gallons of water and lower your water bill significantly.

What tips do you have for water conservation at home?

Tip # 21 - Night stroll to scare the phantoms

A major energy waster is the"Phantom Load".

Phantom load is referred to the power consumed by any device while it is switched off or kept on standby.
Many domestic appliances consume power when they are nominally off. Stereos, Computer Screens and television sets are examples. The phantom load can be caused by miniature transformers that convert AC electricity into DC electricity and is also caused by devices which feature small LEDs or other indicators that they still have power; these indicators obviously use power themselves.

A great way to reduce the phantom load is to close the lights right before you go to sleep or leave the office and check for any LED lights or sounds of active appliances. By doing that night stroll you make sure that your home appliances such as your printer, speakers and DVD player are also having a good night sleep rather then working quietly on enhancing your electricity bills.

Sounds exagerated? If you left your printer on standby before getting a good night sleep she would work unnecesserily for 6-8 hours. Same goes for your radio, stereo, computer, computer screen, TV, VCR, DVD and list goes on...

Tip # 13 - Don't let so much water go down the toilet

About 40 percent of the water you use in your home gets flushed down the toilet. That amounts to more than 4 billion gallons of water each day in the U.S.A alone.

The U.S. law (Water Supply (Water Fittings) Regulations 1999) now mandates that all new toilets installed for residential use be minimal-flush toilets using around 4.5 liters.

Conventional toilets generally use 3.5 to 5 gallons (sometimes more) of water per flush, while low-flush toilets use 1.6 gallons of water or less. If you're not building a new home, you can still benefit by installing one of these toilets.

Still have an old toilet? You can save more than 1 gallon of water per flush with a displacement device -- a brick or plastic milk jug filled with water or pebbles placed in the toilet tank to reduce the amount of water used per flush.

Read more about it

Tip # 12 - Watch The Flow - Install Aerators

Installing water-saving aerators on your faucets is incredibly easy and with them you can save around 25 to 40 percent on the hot and cold water running out of each faucet you aerate.

How does it work? Aerators restrict the flow of water, compressing it into a higher-pressure discharge than regular faucets. They also introduce air bubbles into the water, making it feel like there is a larger water flow. They reduce water flow by about 50 percent or more.

Periodically clean out the screen and flow restrictor in your aerator. The more gunk in your pipes, the more often you will need to clean the aerator. Try a toothpick on the stubborn grit in the flow restrictor.

Aerators are one of those things your water department may be giving away to get its customers to conserve water. So not only are aerators easy to install, they may be free, too.