10 Ways to Conserve Water

Conserving water is good!

Some of us with Multiple Chemical Sensitivity live in drier climates for our health.  Others with MCS dry-camp, having little water at their campsites. In these situations, conserving water becomes even more important.  Here are some ideas for conserving water:

1. While your shower water is warming up, catch the cold water in a bucket rather than letting it go down the drain.  Use it later to wash laundry or water plants.
2. Take “Army showers”:  turn off the water while you soap up and wash your hair.  If you like, put the plug in when you first start with the warm water, and at least your feet will stay warmer.  🙂
3. Gather clean snow and let it melt for use in the laundry.  (Or use it to make old-fashioned snow candy.  :))  Collect rain water for laundry, plants, garden, etc.
4. Use potato or pasta water for soup the next day. REFRIGERATE or freeze the water in the meantime, though.  Starchy water is a hotbed for bacteria and could make you VERY sick if you leave it out and use it later. 
5. Have a “baking day,” and don’t wash the mixing bowl, measuring cups, etc. in between recipes.  (A little sugar and egg from your cookie recipe won’t hurt your bread dough.  But be careful about re-using things after too long that you used with refrigerated ingredients.  These can grow bacteria, too.)
6. Don’t wash some things at all—rinsing-only is fine with dry ingredients, and you also save on soap.  Examples:  a measuring cup used only for flour and sugar, a measuring spoon used only for spices or herbs
7. Don’t wash OR rinse some non-perishable things; wipe them out with paper towel instead.  Examples:  bread pans, cast iron skillet used only to make grilled cheese or fried potatoes, measuring cup used only for oil   Especially if you are using a “more natural” dish soap, this can also save frustration of soap not removing grease very well.  In fact, sometimes it helps to wipe greasy things out even if you’re still going to wash them.
8. Wear clothes more than once, especially pants, (if you didn’t spill tomato sauce or something on yourself :)) before washing the clothes.
9. Set dirty pots in the sink and wash hands or rinse other dishes into them and let them soak.
10. Save large yogurt containers, salsa jars, tomato sauce jars, cocoa powder containers, etc. for use with leftovers.  Most of those things are fairly easy to wash out.  After using the containers for leftovers (which are often harder to wash out, being greasy or full of meat or cheese or whatever), throw away the containers rather than washing.  (You were going to throw them away the first time anyway, right?  Just get them nice and dirty first.  LOL)

Do you have more ideas for water conservation?

Christa Upton       Black Hills Picture Books          PO Box 293      Custer, SD   57730