Climate Challenge, day 13: Low Flow Showerheads

Years ago, I had the last cheap apartment in Portland. When I went to take a shower, there was never enough hot water to wash my hair; the hot water heater was too small to handle the full on showerhead. After a week of cold rinses, I went to Fred Meyers and purchased a sturdy reduced flow showerhead for ten bucks. Voila! Hot water.  That was twenty five years ago. The showerhead is in our greenhouse tub right now, still in use.

Using less water in a shower serves two functions for reducing greenhouse gases. Much of our water comes from the Willamette River and needs to be cleaned before it enters the system. Then, it is dumped back into the river, after being cleaned once more and cooled. This takes energy. Heating water at home also takes energy, even if you have a very efficient hot water heater.  Using less water is an obvious way to shrink your footprint.  The second benefit is that it will save money.

We timed our showers—Mark takes about nine minutes, I am in and out  at twelve (I have more hair). If we want to reduce our overall shower time, we have two options:  Jump in and out quickly while using the shut off valve on the showerhead or take fewer showers.  Two a week allows me to enjoy the process, so that’s my plan.

Options:

Replace your showerhead.

Don’t flush!

Take shorter or less frequent showers.

Hose Repair

                It is hose season. All of the planting, seeding, mulching, and weeding is done and I spend my days hauling hoses around, watering planters and hitching them up to the garden irrigation systems.  The hoses are growing old; I put them in twenty years ago now, so they have issues. On clear mornings, I will start the water running through the veggie garden and head inside for a second cup of tea. Ten minutes later, I come out to a geyser, water shooting seven feet in the air from the center of a bed. Every other creature in the yard is thrilled. The bees fly over to drink the water from the leaves; the rabbit and chickens are excited by the event; the cat hides from the spray.  I peer into the bed, soaking my glasses so that I cannot see the problem. This is always a wet repair.

Hose Repair steps:

1.       Find the leak. Get very wet in the process.

2.       Find the trimmers, which cut a soaker hose quite well.

3.       If possible, recruit an assistant to trun ff the water once the leak is located.

4.       Cut the hose while the water is running. I’ve tried to shut the water off, but I can never find the leak, even if I marked it with a twig. Water flows through the garden bed, but no longer in the air.

5.       Shut off the water.

6.       Find the repair bucket. This happens often enough that I keep repair supplies on hand, along with spare irrigation parts.

7.       Find two hose clamps and the plastic tube.

8.        Slide the hose clamps on the hose first.

9.       Splice the hose with a plastic tube. Move the clamps right up on the tube.

10.   Crank down on the hose clamps as tightly as possible.

11.   Turn on the water for testing.

12.   Retighten the clamps.

13.   Rearrange the mulch over the hose.

14.   Go inside, put the kettle on, and dry your face and hair. Maybe change shirts.

Every summer, I swear I will replace the sweat hoses for the next season and, every spring, I lay them down as I plant out the veg starts. Maybe next year...

Greywater

            First Caveat: Greywater is illegal in Oregon.  Always check your local regulations!

            Second Caveat: Do not allow your greywater to overflow onto your neighbor’s veg. patch. It’s not healthy and, here in Oregon, enforcement is on a complaint based system. No one complains, no letter asking you to cease and desist.

            That being said, I’m glad no one measures the outflow of water from our house in the summertime. Very little leaves the property.  I hate to waste things, including water.

            We used to have a fairly complex system of capturing the shower and laundry water based upon some modest changes in plumbing, two fifty five gallon blue plastic barrels that smell faintly of tamari, and a small water pump. After three showers, the water was pumped up from the basement and poured on the  flower beds. It worked, but it had some flaws. The barrels overflowed occasionally, the water smelled a little skuzzy, and Mark was always muttering about the carbon footprint of the pump, as well as the loud, growly, squeally noise it made while pumping. Then, while walking home one afternoon, I spotted an old tub by the side of the road. “Free” the sign proclaimed. We hauled it to the backyard, built a shelter around it using old wood from a shed, plumbed it with a hose that reaches to the basement utility sink, and attached a short drainage hose to the bottom. Total cost—35$ and two trips to Searing Plumbing and Electric, where they did not give me a funny look when I came in with my questions. Hot water shower. Drains directly into the flower beds. No need for the pump. No nasty smell in the basement. As soon as Mark realized that, when he used the outdoor shower, he did not have to clean the indoor tub every week, he was sold. We stuck with the barrel and pump system for the laundry, but, as that works out to one barrel for four loads, I usually drain it while hanging the last load. No smell. The dish water has always been simple. One dish pan. One five gallon bucket. One chart, complete with flamingo fridge magnet, charting where the water is to be poured next.

            There are a few common sense ideas to keep in mind when considering greywater. First, figure out a way for the water to drain quickly into the ground, rather than sitting around, breeding who knows what. Second, don’t pour it directly on plants you plan on eating soon. Third, think about your soaps. They need to biodegrade. Here in Oregon, I don’t worry about build up in the soil; the long slow rains leach everything else out of the soil, so why not a little soap residue? If I lived in a drier climate, I might need  to consider the issue. Finally, watch what the water washes—laundry water that washed diapers might not be ideal for flower beds and fruit trees, even. There is a great, inexpensive  book on greywater systems by Oasis. We poured over it for several years before loaning it out to someone. You can do all kinds of cool things with your household water, establishing wetlands with reeds to filter the water before it seeps into the ground. However, after all of our experiments, the simpler the system, the more likely you are to use it.