California Drought, Graywater, and Aussie Bucket Back

Last year, KQED aired an interview with Rebecca Nelson, an Australian research fellow at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment. She described how Australians changed their culture of water use during their 9-year drought. Bucket back is what you get when you haul excess shower water outside to water the garden.

I don't have an elephant around to help me haul water, but then again it is decent exercise for me to carry about a gallon of my own water a short distance on a regular basis.

Inspired by this piece, I have started experimenting with recycling graywater. Graywater is used water from showers, baths, the washing machine, dish washer and kitchen sink that has some soap in it, but is still clean enough to use in the garden or toilet. Here is The Poor Man's (ahem Girl's) Way to Use Gray Water:

Step #1 Obtain a plastic container that is at least 6 inches deep and the correct dimensions for your shower to cover as much of the floor as possible. I bought one like this from Target.

Step #2  Place the container in your shower, and step into it while showering.
Step #3  Pour the shower water into a watering can or other container that allows easy pouring. I have a 2-gallon watering can like this one.

Voila! Graywater recycling!

I have found that with my typical navy shower, I fill up less than my 2-gallon watering can. So far, I have been using this water to flush the toilet (only when it's brown . . .). To do this, I simply turn off the water to my toilet and then dump in shower water to flush it until the gray water runs out.

Are you tired of hearing about my toilet yet? I hope not because this is an endlessly fascinating subject to me since realizing so recently just HOW MUCH DRINKABLE HETCH HETCHY WATER SAN FRANCISCANS ARE FLUSHING DOWN THE TOILET. I think John Muir would turn over in his grave another several times knowing how much of this beautiful water--water that flooded Muir's sacred Hetch Hetchy Valley near Yosemite --gets mindlessly flushed.

As a side note, if you are looking for conservation inspiration, I would recommend Donald Worster's book A Passion For Nature: The Life of John Muir. This book discusses not only Muir's remarkable life, but conservation arguments during his life and also the debate around flooding the Hetch Hetchy Valley to supply water to a burgeoning San Francisco.

I linked to the April 15 KQED Forum discussion entitled "In Drought-Stricken California, how much Water does California Use?" on April 27, but for a repeat dose of criticism of San Franciscans' overuse of Hetch Hetchy water, click here.

As Rebecca Nelson explained, in the last decade, Australians also became accustomed to capturing rainwater and installing dual plumbing systems in new housing. In briefly looking into this, I quickly found various gray water recycling plans that would cost more money and effort to put into place but should be considered when building a new house, remodeling or having the time to install.

Initially, I questioned, "Why is it that no one (I know at least) is talking about plumbing new houses or houses undergoing renovation so that shower water can be used in toilets and perhaps also for laundry or the garden? Why is it that I have not yet heard of city water systems developing ways to recycle graywater?" 

 Then, of course, after searching the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)'s website (my heroes) some more, I discovered that my city is developing a plan! There is actually a "laundry-to-landscape" rebate program that will start up this fall. Additionally, there are technical resources and video of how one system in San Francisco has already been installed. 

I will do this! And I will let you know about it. I will also find out more about soaps and send that information along.

 We need to adjust our water culture. I know from my own little Water Challenge that it is quite easy to use significantly less water simply by thinking about it - being less of a cognitive miser - and measuring the amount of water used. Thank you, SFPUC for making that possible for San Franciscans! I hope to see great new innovative mechanisms from the SFPUC to allow for more efficient use of graywater. I also hope that most if not all water agencies in areas of drought provide great data for subscribers so that conservation becomes more expected and even the norm. 

Like Oprah says, "When you know better, you do better." It is difficult to conserve if you can't keep track of how much water you are using and how (e.g. in toilets, showers, outdoor irrigation).