Homeschool Zoo Annex: Saving water usage

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Saving water usage

I know I've already written some posts about saving water and energy, but just a bit ago I was thinking about an old friend of mine who didn't have a very good well at her house. She had to use all kinds of little tricks to save water - it was a necessary issue. So, I'm going to begin employing some of the tricks she used. It should save me a little electricity for the well pump and at the same time be water conservation friendly.

Catch the washing machine rinse water and reuse it for the next wash cycle.
Use filtered rainwater in the washing machine instead of pumping well water into it.
Set up a solar water heater to heat filtered rainwater for personal hygiene needs. Not brushing teeth, of course, but hand washing, bathing, washing hair....
Use the soapy washing machine water for plants and garden beds.

I've begun doing some of this myself. I'm saving washing machine water to use on garden beds plus I'm catching the rinse water to put back into the machine for the next wash load. I have to admit that right now, carrying it in buckets makes my arms feel like I've been working out with Kettlebells, but I'm hoping that next payday I can invest in a submersible pump to help me push the water where I want it to go.

You may have other ideas and I welcome your comments and I welcome them!