The Three Minute GREEN Shower from Douglas Garbe, is not a new idea -- and the post about it brought back memories.
When I was in school, one of our civics classes talked about Americans working with people in SE Asian countries and recommending typical American hygienic habits, such as take a bath once a week, minimum. The people who were being lectured about keeping clean were shocked because their religion had them get into the river for a 'bath' several times a DAY!
But, we didn't always have running water in the house when I was a kid. Tub baths were treats that I got to enjoy at Grandma's house on Sunday, swimming like a little mermaid till all fingers and toes were prune-wrinkled and the half tub of water was COLD, while the grown-ups visited in the other room. The rest of the time was a sponge bath behind the wood burning kitchen range. Once, I got a good burn on my arm from getting too close to the stove pipe.
One summer when I was about 10, the oats dust and the soybean dust was so bad, my dad took a 3.5 to 4 gallon bucket and put a faucet on it. A special little shower gizmo sold by Stanley Home Products called a shower ring was attached to the faucet. (In those days, ladies didn't wash their hair every day and didn't want to get it wet in any bath if possible, so the water on a shower ring started in a ring that fit around one's neck and some distance from a hair-do.) Dad put that bucket, full of warm soapy water on a hook from the ceiling of the closed in back porch and schzam, we had a shower! Please consider two things -- the amount of water and the location. Because, even though, we lived in the country, way back in the middle of a section, someone MIGHT come to the back door. And that water didn't last long. I began my shower experiences with SPEED being a big part of the operation. I've just never since been a Lucy Longshower. There are economical 'at the source of use' water heaters which help us not pump 10 gallons of water through the pipes from the water heater to the bathroom.
Today, when we use water, we cannot get into a river or a lake readily. Water that we use for the lawns doesn't get to be from our gray water as it should; we use expensive and increasingly scarce treated water for projects never intended. Our dog does his shower from the rainwater tank; he has a nice warm shower. It gets a little mossy, so I think I will pass, though. Our houses need more than one water evacuation system -- we have water that could be reused for watering plants and lawns or washing cars, but it gets shuffled down the same pipe as toilet water, putting pressure on sewage systems as well. If you live in the country with a septic system, the biggest enemy of these is soap and detergent which would do fine for lawns and shrubs. When we lived in the western mountains, our system would accept only limited water. I had a little washing machine called a Hoover washing machine. It had a pump on it which I used to pump the wash water into a bucket. The bucket was then taken outside and poured into a barrel containing rocks and having holes poked in it. The wildflowers and grasses loved my wash water and because of the barrel, I could also count on being able to flush the toilet.
Sure, we need to be responsible about water useage -- reasonable shower time, filling the washer, shutting down while the actual brushing goes on. The yellow practice mentioned in some of the comments for The Three Minute Shower, or as we say at our house, building a pee collection, saves water and floodiing of a leach field. Amazingly, using a dishwasher can save water if we run it when full. Once, I let a portable dishwater pump into a kettle and found it took 2.5 gallons to fill. I know I used more than that washing one baby bottle when they were all dirty and I needed one. Keeping cold water in the frig (maybe in re-used water bottles will keep us from running the faucet to get cold water. So, some of it is habit and some of it is making the decision to use appliances that let us get the most from the water we do use. The solutions are clear, but they may not always be simple and easy. Each living person is responsible for using wisdom in resource usage. Some of this is a matter of conviction; nothing works so well as practicing what we preach while being satisfied to inform others.
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