The Water Challenge: Be (More) Like Mozambique

 Mozambique appears to be the country using the least water per capita (as of 2006). In contrast to an average Mozambiquian’s use of 4 liters (~1 gallon) of water per day, the average American uses 575 liters (~152 gal) per day. Worldwide, an average Earth inhabitant uses/needs ~50 liters (~13 gallons) of water each day.

Quality of life is poor when a person has access to a mere 4 liters (1 gallon) of water each day. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) recommend a minimum of 20 liters (~5gal.) of water for sufficient drinking water and personal hygiene and closer to 50 liters (~13 gallons) of water when factoring in bathing and laundry. (See p. 34 in the United Nations Development Programme report.) It turns out, people use a lot less water when they have to haul it around to use it.

 What would the average American need to give up to cut water use by about 90%? Perhaps we should imagine the effort it would take to transport our daily water on our backs every time we turn on the faucet.

My family will face “The Water Challenge” this month. Our family of 5 – 2 adults, 2 kids and 1 cat – will do everything we can to cut our water use. We will keep track of how we do by comparing our water bills ending in mid-February (typical usage month) to mid-March (challenge month). 

As we do the Water Challenge, we will record all the things we changed to try to reduce our water consumption. We will also comment as we go along on on how our new habits feel and whether we think we could maintain our new lifestyle. Our initial strategies include the following: 

*  "If it's yellow, it's mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." In the last couple days, we have peed ~ 3 times before flushing and kept the lid down so our cat won't drink the pretty yellow water. Reported new odors: no change when the lid is closed!

*  We are also trying out the "navy shower", which basically means, only let the water run to get wet and to rinse off. While soaping, shampooing, shaving, the water is turned off.

*  My husband and I have tried to not let the shower and sink water run until it warms up. This means, we have to be sweet to each other and take turns being the one receiving the cold shower. This also means that we are attempting to take our showers in a row to optimize the warm water. (After taking a cold shower, one starts to ponder the pros and cons of a tankless water heater too.)

*  Our kids are really excited about bathing less. We are all planning to shower about 2x per week - a little more than the traditional Saturday night soak.

We challenge you to join The Water Challenge! Let us know how you did, and give us more hints on how to use less water! I will add them as they come in. Our goal is to decrease our water use by at least 25% this month.

In the days to come, I will post "the data" about our household water use the last few months - pre- and post- low flow shower heads and toilets. I will be comparing our usage to the average San Franciscan too.