Popular Post Amber in SJ Posted May 31, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted May 31, 2015 Two months ago we got a notice that we will be required to cut back 30% on our water usage starting June 15th. I thought this would be tough because we are pretty frugal with our water usage. I have been working very hard to be even more scrimping with our water usage because the penalties are huge. We have certain days we are allowed to water with a sprinkler, certain times on those days we are allowed to water, no vehicles may be washed with a hose that doesn't have automatic shut off.....so on..... Finally yesterday I received a notice that said each family would receive 13 units per month. If we have more than 4 family members or a health condition we can petition to receive 2 additional units per month. We are a family of 6 people, two cats, one very large dog, a small vegetable garden, an herb garden, 2 lemon trees, a lime tree, 5 apple trees and 6 berry bushes. We also have a small patch of lawn and some roses. We can look at our usage online. Over the last two months we have used 7.5 units and 7.8 units respectively. Yay me! Amber in SJ 53 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Yay you! I'm impressed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 How much water is a unit? You guys are low consumption champions! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in SJ Posted May 31, 2015 Author Share Posted May 31, 2015 1 unit = 100 cubic feet or 748 gallons. amber in SJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Congrats. You must be super water frugal. I am, however, curious: 1 unit = 100 cubic feet or 748 gallons. That means the standard family allowance of 13 units is 9,724 gallons per month. If they call that "cutting back", how much water have people been using? This still seems a lot to me - unless one grows a garden with lots of thirsty vegetables, of course. But I would imagine most people don't? (FWIW, we are a family of four with no garden except herbs, just lawn, and are using between 3,000 and 4,000 gallons per month, i.e. 4.0 to 5.3 units) 10 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 The average American uses between 80 and 100 gallons of water a day. That's between 2,400 and 3,100 gallons per person per month, or 9,600 - 12,400 gallons for a family of 4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3 ladybugs Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Who are these people that average 100 gallons a day? I can't understand it unless they are single people who are insanely messy cooks!! 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Who are these people that average 100 gallons a day? I can't understand it unless they are single people who are insanely messy cooks!! They might: run the dishwasher when it is not full run the washing machine for a handful of items or wash everything after a few hours of wear take loooong showers be obsessed with green lawn and use a lot of water to achieve that goal fill swimming pools hose off their cars every few days ... 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurel-in-CA Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 Good on you for those cutbacks and thrift!! We're already down 30% over the baseline year, which I think was 2013. We let our garden go and next week are having all our toilets replaced with low-flow units. Yard is down to 2 x/day and we're thinking of shutting off the grass part altogether in the front and going with just drip irrigation for the bushes. Praying for that el nino to firm up and give us a very wet winter next year! (Although, that has problems of its own, doesn't it.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted May 31, 2015 Share Posted May 31, 2015 I'm not sure how much we've been using as far as units. But, I have a 5 gallon bucket in the shower,so we save that water as the shower is warming up to water the garden. We also turn off the water in the shower when we're shampooing and soaping. It's tough. Lawns are brown, but they are telling us to make sure we water it trees and not let them die. Regarding a previous post abut how much water we have been using, most places in California get nary a drop of rain from April to October. Here in the Valley the summer temps regularly top 100 degrees. We have to irrigate if we are going to have anything growing. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 They might: run the dishwasher when it is not full run the washing machine for a handful of items or wash everything after a few hours of wear take loooong showers be obsessed with green lawn and use a lot of water to achieve that goal fill swimming pools hose off their cars every few days ... They might also use a less efficient washing machine and dishwasher (or a less efficient style of washing dishes by hand), run the water while brushing their teeth and shaving their legs, not have a low-flow toilet (that's by far the biggest water use in most homes), have drippy pipes and taps and toilet tanks that they haven't gotten around to fixing just yet, water their garden during the middle of the day instead of the evening... it all adds up. (Especially the drippy pipes and taps and toilet tanks.) 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmseB Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I'm doing my part by letting the laundry pile up. I would do that anyway, but now I will just claim it is for water conservation. 18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 We were already SO careful. It's going to be really difficult to cut back further. One nice thing about how they are doing it here so far is that the 30% applies overall, but individual allotments are by household size, so people like us who have already been conserving a lot are not penalized for it as in past years. There has been a LOT of rain in the Sierras during the last three weeks, even though there hasn't been any down here. This is VERY late in the season for mountain rain in quantity, especially with cold ambient weather instead of summer heat, and that will be an extremely helpful boost in summer water supply for the Bay Area, but it wasn't nearly enough to take the 'drought year' label off of this season, and we are still in year 4 of the worst drought I can remember. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tanaqui Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 We were already SO careful. It's going to be really difficult to cut back further. The only thing I can think of that you might not be doing if you're already very careful is setting up a graywater system for your toilet, where the water to flush it comes from used sink water instead of fresh water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 we only have the water that we collect from rainfall. if it doesn't rain for a long time we don't have much water. We do not water our fruit trees at all. They do survive the hot dry summer here, thought sometimes they start to go dormant early. I have a tub under the shower that we stand in to have a shower,. It does 2 things. firstly makes everyone aware of how much water they are using, and secondly I use it for watering the flowers. If it is really dry then we use this water for flushing the toilet. All boys are very highly encouraged to go outside to urinate. saving a huge amount in flushing. A dish is used under the kitchen tap when washing vegetables. it also makes me aware of how much water I am using. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KathyBC Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 We have certain days we are allowed to water with a sprinkler, certain times on those days we are allowed to water, no vehicles may be washed with a hose that doesn't have automatic shut off.....so on..... That's been standard in our province's municipalities, every summer regardless of weather conditions, for a long time. It's nice to see people leaning more towards xeriscaping if they can't keep grass green on that schedule. I know one serious gardener who is installing underground sprinklers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I don't know anyone who waters their lawn anymore - I understand watering gardens and such, but who would water a lawn during a drought? This doesn't apply to anyone in this thread. I was reading an article online this morning that was talking about the need for shop owners to hose down their front sidewalks less and for homeowners to water their lawns less. It seems very obvious that those should be two things cut out immediately - not cut down. Also, all the companies still using CA water to bottle, should find a less dry area to source water from. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Last month we used an average of 27.3 gallons per day per person in our house. If we had little kids we would use a lot more since we washed our hands a lot more when we were changing diapers and stuff. But I can't imagine using 80-100 gallons a day! Dh washes a car or two a week here but it takes little water. A soapy water bucket and then rinsing. Having a quality spray nozzle really cuts down on the water needed to wash the car. We are fortunate that we rarely have to water anything outside. I guess that really adds up. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carrie12345 Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I've never really understood lawn watering, either. I do understand some HOAs force people into it, but their superficial requirement baffles me. Does it have anything to do with soil retention, or is it really just about being pretty despite scary shortages? We have been watering a tiny patch of newly seeded space because we hadn't gotten rain in ages. I felt guilty every time, even though draining our own well would likely hurt only us. (Neighbors' wells are pretty far apart.) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 We put artificial turf in the backyard and love it. I hate having to maintain a lawn that we don't care about. Our kids are grown and don't play on it, and I've always said I wish we could put artificial turf out there. I didn't know people actually did that. I would SO embrace that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so envious. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 My complex HOA and the neighboring areas HOA as well as the nearby public schools all use the purple recycled water sprinklers. I grew up when it was common for people to throw still lighted cigarette butts anywhere. We had trash cans burnt down from lighted cigarettes in universities during my undergrad days. Watering lawns with collected rain water was to hopefully reduced risk. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Our household usage averages about 9000 gallons per month; that is about 37.5 gallons per day per person. I think laundry and toilet flushes account for a major portion of that! That does not however include outdoor water in the summer which comes from a secondary irrigation water system. That system is unmetered but there are limitations in dry years on times and days when watering is allowed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Thank you for a thread that made me look at, and understand, my water bill! I guess I never really paid to much attention to it. We do try to conserve water as much as possible with a family of 7. Anyway, I did the math and I'm impressed that we only use 32 gallons a day per person. I do plan to talk to my oldest about her showers in light of drought in parts of the US. Maybe I can appeal to her from a conservation standpoint, because a parent discussing hogging the bathroom isn't working. ;) I refuse to water my lawn (most of my neighbors have sprinkler systems for their putting green short lawns). I just grow it long and have a nice green lawn most years. I am trying to cut down on the amount of lawn just for convenience sake, but I don't water plants unless it's really, really, dry either. I had to google purple water sprinklers after seeing it above. I wish we had something like that around here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovingparent Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Do you care to share any tips Amber? I need to check but I am afraid we use more now than the allotment. We did water our lawn but we have stopped and it is already dead. We have a pool, which needs to be filled every now and then. We are not sure about the plants in our yards. We have tons of rose bushes and other bushes and they need to be irrigated. Other than that, we have a water efficient washing mashine which we only use if it's full. Same for dishwasher. We use it daily but it's always full to the brink. We eat a lot of fresh vegetables, which require a lot of water for washing thoroughly. That's one thing that I wouldn't sacrifice. We take short showers and our toilets are low flow. Right now, we keep the water from our showers that is clean from when we have to wait for it to warm and throw it in the pool or flush with it. I am not sure what else to do. No car washing either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I refuse to water my lawn (most of my neighbors have sprinkler systems for their putting green short lawns). I just grow it long and have a nice green lawn most years. I am trying to cut down on the amount of lawn just for convenience sake, but I don't water plants unless it's really, really, dry either. This works in parts of the country where rain is relatively frequent. Those of us in natural deserts or near deserts really shouldn't have lawns at all, the water waste is phenomenal. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Well, we need to keep our trees for shade. It does make a difference. Unfortunately, the lawn is DH's domain, but I'm hoping that either regs or peer pressure from the neighbors will change his mind. Nagging from me does not work, and I will not go there! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin M Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 In Sacramento here. We've talked to a gardener for a local church near our business whose lawns are absolutely beautiful and they only water 2 times a week. They use Aqua Smart Pro which the golf course also use. Its a polymer sand which helps to increase water retention. We did it a few weeks ago and our grass is green and lush and we're only watering 5 minutes a couple days a week. We have 19 units to use before the water company charges a higher amount for the next tier. When we were watering every day, our water bills were pretty high. Now that we've cut back, we're almost staying with the 19th units. We were asked to cut back by 20% though not individually, but our neighborhood as a whole. We'll probably be replacing some of the sprinklers with drip feed for the garden area to converse a bit more. If you don't water your trees, the roots will start seeking out the nearest water source. If you see roots rising near the top, going in the direction of your neighbor who does water, then it might be a good idea to give them more water. We've noticed an increase in sewer line problems with the decrease in watering. Kind of a catch 22 really. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
melmichigan Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 This works in parts of the country where rain is relatively frequent. Those of us in natural deserts or near deserts really shouldn't have lawns at all, the water waste is phenomenal. Very true. My yard is mostly shade from mature trees which really helps. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Is water in California really expensive? If I just calculate our water and sewer costs (our bill also includes trash pickup, capital improvement, and storm water fee but those aren't really water charges, just charges the city tacks on), our 2489 gallons last month cost us $21.23 which is such a bargain! (That's $6.39 per unit for combined water/sewage) There's no incentive for us to conserve water when it's this cheap. So...is it really expensive where you guys live? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in SJ Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 I have no idea how California compares in water costs to other states. It also varies from water district to water district within California. I know my parents in the extreme north state pay much less, but for reference the baseline price per unit in my urban, Bay Area water district is $3.56. However, rather like a cell phone bill there are local taxes, state taxes and fees on the top of that amount that make the actual bill higher. If you go above your baseline 13 units the cost is $7.12 per unit or portion thereof. Amber in SJ Also we have a water conundrum. In front of my house on the other side of the sidewalk are two lovely trees, a mature magnolia and a Japanese maple. These trees belong to the city. I am not allowed to remove them or replace them without a permit and the only reason a permit is allowed is if the tree is damaging the sewer line. If you do get a permit to remove the tree, the permit is attached to the tree for 30 declaring that the tree will be removed on such & such a date and anyone walking by has the right to protest the tree removal by placing a phone call. If there is a protest the permit is suspended pending a hearing. We are required to pay for the maintenance of the trees, if the tree is lifting up the city sidewalk we are required to pay to fix the damage. If the tree dies the city will send you a list of replacements from which to choose. The conundrum arises because I am obliged to water the trees by the city which is also telling me that I can't water my lawn. The trees usually gets water from the lawn water system, but now that has been changed and I don't think they are getting enough water. I use gray water for all my outside watering. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in SJ Posted June 1, 2015 Author Share Posted June 1, 2015 As for tips; I hate to make it sound like I am an expert because some others are doing so much better. We do all the usual things, low-flow shower heads, dual flush toilets, efficient appliances that are only run when full....etc. The things that we do that might be unusual are recovering the grey water from showers (short showers,) putting a big cooking pot under the colander when I was fresh veggies & fruits and using that water on outside plants. I try to group water intensive cooking. If I am going to boil a big pot of water for pasta for dinner, I will use the same water to boil a second pkg of pasta to make a pasta salad for week's lunches, and then I will use the same water to blanch the big bunch of broccoli or fresh green beans that are either going into the freezer or to be used in meals later in the week and then I use the same water to boil one of those boil-in-the-bag things of mixed grains (wheat berries, brown rice, quinoa..) Once all those things are cooked, I let the water cool then I go dump it on one of the trees outside. I do have a tip for what not to try. Do not water anything with your bean soaking water. Apparently roses & lemon trees can't digest beans without stinky effects, either. Even the mail carrier commented that the walk up to my house smelled like farts. Amber in SJ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ms.Ivy Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Regarding the green lawns-- up until recently, residents were often fined by cities, not just HOAs, for not having one. I remember that the year the drought started, the city of Sacramento was still fining people who dared to take their lawns out and put in drought-tolerant landscaping. The ONLY option was a green real grass lawn. And Sacramento only gets up to 20" rain between November and April, in a good year -- NO rain for half the year. There are so many different climates and water supplies in California that you can't just say "water is expensive/cheap in California" or "California is a desert and no one should have a lawn." It's really big diverse state and the water issues are a huge mess. I pay about $40/mo. for 9 units a month for a family of 8. (about 6800 gallons a month). The sewer costs $50 a month on top of that. We have an adequate ground water supply. But if you travel one mile to the north, the water supply is a reservoir that is going to run dry from lack of snow. We managed to cut way back by not watering our lawn, and also by not having twins in cloth diapers anymore :-) General mindfulness about water usage helped quite a bit. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 Well, I just checked ours because my neighbour said we had to reduce our usage by 20% or there would be fines, but we are already at 8 units. We are allotted 14 for inside and 12 for landscaping. We gave up on the lawn a while ago, but some fruit trees and veges are still growing in the backyard. So now I am wondering if our allotment has to be reduced by 20% or our usage based on past months iykwim? Cuz I don;t think I can go lower LOL. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Um_2_4 Posted June 1, 2015 Share Posted June 1, 2015 I try to group water intensive cooking. If I am going to boil a big pot of water for pasta for dinner, I will use the same water to boil a second pkg of pasta to make a pasta salad for week's lunches, and then I will use the same water to blanch the big bunch of broccoli or fresh green beans that are either going into the freezer or to be used in meals later in the week and then I use the same water to boil one of those boil-in-the-bag things of mixed grains (wheat berries, brown rice, quinoa..) Do not try if you eat gluten free (rice or corn based or combo thereof) macaroni, just a heads up.... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KrissiK Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 There are so many different climates and water supplies in California that you can't just say "water is expensive/cheap in California" or "California is a desert and no one should have a lawn." It's really big diverse state and the water issues are a huge mess. Very true. And that's not even taking into account the political mess that helped create this drought. We don't always have dry years, and we don't have adequate storage for those wet years. But we will have a high-speed rail system. Definitely a necessity. And a lot of environmental regs as well. It's an ugly mess, and I know I'm not the only one a little resentful that because of the ill-planning and insanity of our legislature, we have to pick up the tab. I grew up here, and while we have always been mindful that water is precious and have never wasted, things weren't like this when I was a kid. And we did have droughts before. This isn't anything new. But we also have a much higher population and nothing has been done to prepare for it regarding water storage. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lovingparent Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 I do have a tip for what not to try. Do not water anything with your bean soaking water. Apparently roses & lemon trees can't digest beans without stinky effects, either. Even the mail carrier commented that the walk up to my house smelled like farts. :lol: :lol: I will keep that in mind Amber! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 Maybe they need to up the cost of water in CA - we have a well here, so we don't pay, but I have relatives in RI and according to them, their average quarterly water bill is about $900. They're not crazy users either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kim in Appalachia Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 This thread inspired me to look at our water usage. We never water the lawn, that is not done here. We do have a garden, but only water it a little in the hottest months (otherwise, we use rainwater from our collection barrels). We have a pool. There are 6 people in the house, sometimes 7. We are using on average, 400 gallons a day. Since we don't water things, or wash our cars (we take it to the car wash), I guess it's all from showers, laundry, and dishwasher. I run the dishwasher twice a day (it's full). I have an HE washer, and I run around 2 loads a day, 6 days a week. Everyone bathes everyday. The boys can't seem to figure out how to flush the toilet, :P so they aren't wasting much there. I guess our showers are too long. We would be having a rough time in CA. I'm guessing we would have to switch to using paper plates and plastic so that we didn't run the dishwasher. We could also time the showers, but we do need to bathe daily. Maybe stop washing the clothes?? But the boys get so dirty. It would be a hard adjustment. Very eye opening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amber in SJ Posted June 2, 2015 Author Share Posted June 2, 2015 Well, I just checked ours because my neighbour said we had to reduce our usage by 20% or there would be fines, but we are already at 8 units. We are allotted 14 for inside and 12 for landscaping. We gave up on the lawn a while ago, but some fruit trees and veges are still growing in the backyard. So now I am wondering if our allotment has to be reduced by 20% or our usage based on past months iykwim? Cuz I don;t think I can go lower LOL. Our 30% reduction is city wide based on 2013 usage. Our 13 allowed units reflects a 30% reduction in the average usage of a 4 person residence in our district. If you are already conserving you don't have to reduce a further 30%. Unfortunately businesses & residences that do not have an individual meter (apartment complexes or condos, etc) are not required to reduce. Businesses & those types of residences make up 50% of the water district's customers. I am not thrilled that individual homeowners are forced to shoulder all the burden. Amber in SJ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 We are on a spring-fed well. Our water bill is the electricity it takes to run our pump. Due to the natural running of the spring, our well overflows 24/7. The overflow comes out a rusty old pipe where people stop on the side of the busy highway literally 24/7 to fill up water jugs, and sometimes even huge storage tanks. There are often people out there at 2am filling up trunks-full of bottles. When the water is not being taken it runs on the ground to join the river and eventually the ocean, ie wasted. But the pipes running from the well to the house are long, old, and insufficient, causing us the need to conserve anyway. For instance, when it is really hot and dry midsummer we cannot water our garden with sprinklers - we have to fill up buckets from the well overflow and water by hand. We cannot take long showers, and sometimes the water will stop while in the middle of a shower until the pressure tank fills again. The pipe from the well to the house froze this winter so that we didn't have running water for two months. Taking showers at the hotel down the street, eating off of paper plates, washing pots once per week, and running 3 loads of laundry per week at the laundromat, we used ~25 gallons per day total (not per person) for drinking water and flushing toilets only when they really needed it. We never wash cars. With efficient front-load washer and dishwasher only used when they are full (which is nearly every day), and showering (with a shut-off button) only ~3x per week (unless we really need it) I can imagine we use 25 gallons per person per day when we are living regularly, but there's no way to really know without a flow meter. ETA: Using this water calculator, we use ~158 gallons per day, which works out closer to 30gal/person/day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Annie G Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 We are on a spring-fed well. Our water bill is the electricity it takes to run our pump. Due to the natural running of the spring, our well overflows 24/7. The overflow comes out a rusty old pipe where people stop on the side of the busy highway literally 24/7 to fill up water jugs, and sometimes even huge storage tanks. There are often people out there at 2am filling up trunks-full of bottles. When the water is not being taken it runs on the ground to join the river and eventually the ocean, ie wasted. But the pipes running from the well to the house are long, old, and insufficient, causing us the need to conserve anyway. For instance, when it is really hot and dry midsummer we cannot water our garden with sprinklers - we have to fill up buckets from the well overflow and water by hand. We cannot take long showers, and sometimes the water will stop while in the middle of a shower until the pressure tank fills again. The pipe from the well to the house froze this winter so that we didn't have running water for two months. Taking showers at the hotel down the street, eating off of paper plates, washing pots once per week, and running 3 loads of laundry at the laundromat, we used ~25 gallons per day total (not per person) for drinking water and flushing toilets only when they really needed it. We never wash cars. With efficient front-load washer and dishwasher only used when they are full (which is nearly every day), and showering (with a shut-off button) only ~3x per week (unless we really need it) I can imagine we use 25 gallons per person per day when we are living regularly, but there's no way to really know without a flow meter. This makes me feel pretty spoiled that I just turn my water on and it appears. If I had gone through your two month spell of no running water I would have cried quite a bit. Probably generating enough to wash a pan or two. You are a strong woman- your post doesn't sound even a little complainy! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy in NH Posted June 2, 2015 Share Posted June 2, 2015 This makes me feel pretty spoiled that I just turn my water on and it appears. If I had gone through your two month spell of no running water I would have cried quite a bit. Probably generating enough to wash a pan or two. You are a strong woman- your post doesn't sound even a little complainy! It was pretty inconvenient for running a household (especially being home all day every day), and my husband was a saint for filling up the buckets every single night through cold nasty weather, but complaining doesn't solve the problem and just makes everyone miserable. We toughed it out with an attitude of acceptance, and now we're applying to refinance the house so we can afford a well on our side of the highway (current well is 600 feet away, pipes run under the highway). We have had other problems with the well involving sand getting into the pipes for various reasons which have required us to replace the well pump about every other year to the tune of $300 a pop. The water is really very good, but the problems with the whole system have just been a fact of life. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyJoy Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I hate having to maintain a lawn that we don't care about. Our kids are grown and don't play on it, and I've always said I wish we could put artificial turf out there. I didn't know people actually did that. I would SO embrace that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so envious. I had a friend in the CA desert with a fake lawn in back and it was actually really nice! They had a vacuum to clean up leaves, which was pretty funny. I joked they would need a ride-on vacuum if their yard were much larger ;) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maize Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I had a friend in the CA desert with a fake lawn in back and it was actually really nice! They had a vacuum to clean up leaves, which was pretty funny. I joked they would need a ride-on vacuum if their yard were much larger ;) Does the fake lawn get hot? The nice thing about real grass is that it is cool underfoot. Otherwise I would totally go for fake grass that never needed to be mowed! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mamaraby Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I was curious what we were using. We live in the midwest so we generally don't have to water the lawn. We did have drought conditions the one summer (heh, I know), but we didn't water the lawn then. I think if this were a long term thing or if we lived in a different climate, we'd probably look into lawn alternatives. We don't have a pool. I have a few potted plants outside and two small garden beds. Our family of 5 plus a dog and two cats used 18CCF last quarter. So, for 85 days of water usage we're at 31.7 gallons/person per day. The kids and I tried to visualize what that looks like in terms of gallon jugs. In the meantime, we're going to see if we can cut it back to 15CCF a quarter. We'd only save about $10 that way, though. People in our town often complain at how expensive our quarterly water bills are (and the bill includes other stuff like fire protection, garbage/recycling, water base charge and usage, and waste water base charge and usage), but just the water part of the bill was only $34.92 for the quarter. It's incredibly cheap. I figured out a per day cost and I'm totally going to bring that up next time someone starts to complain at how expensive it is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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