Conserving Water

Grace-Full living in these parts calls for giving grace to others in our city by conserving water. Our area has seen record rainfall amounts this summer and because of this, our city has been having wastewater issues. You see, last week a sewage pipe blew up and there was the threat of having sewage back up into many people's homes. Thankfully the amount was smaller than anticipated, but there were still some people who got my poo in their basement. :( Well, maybe not MY poo because we actually weren't here. But it was someone's poo for sure!!

We're supposed to get more heavy rain tonight so the mayor has called for water conservation until Saturday morning (it's Thursday afternoon as I write this). Because the wastewater bypass they built as a temporary fix to last week's problem could get overloaded again....and we definitely don't want THAT to happen. Especially since I'm HERE this week.  And it really could be MY poo...

So, how will I conserve water?

1. Shorter showers. Yes, I will have to shower as it's that time of the month and goodness sakes, I can't imagine NOT showering for the next 24+ hours when dealing with that. So will I just hurry and be super fast? No, probably not. Because I'll lose track of time and that warm water will feel oh.  So.  Good.  And pretty soon, 15 minutes will have gone by!! Instead I will get wet and turn the water off. Then I will suds up the hair and the bod. And then I'll rinse off. Presto. Shorto showero.

2. "Plug" the drains. This will be most easy in the kitchen. I'll just place a basin inside the sink and run any water we need into that. Then, instead of dumping it down the drain, I'll dump it outside. Yes, because we need MORE water outside with all this rain. But I guess that's better than down the drain and into other people's basements. Washing hands, washing dishes, getting a drink and cooking can all be done like this. So, wastewater in the kitchen is eliminated. (Too bad I couldn't figure out how to do this in the shower...if only I had a basin that big).

3.  Hold off on any laundry.  This won't be too hard because I just finished laundry yesterday.  But besides that, do we really not have enough clothes to last us 24+ hours?  What, would this be like 2 outfits?  I think most of us could make it a week on the stuff in our closets.  We maybe wouldn't be the most coordinated, fashionatas on the face of the earth.  But hey, maybe we could get some nominations from this region for that one show about "What Not To Wear".

4. The stinky part. Okay, so what did they first call bathrooms when they moved them inside the house? I don't know, but before they were 'in' the house, I know they were 'out' houses. So what do I have now that I am supposed to conserve water until Saturday morning? An OUT-house IN my house. :) Really, do we have to flush after every little tinkle? No. This is our house - we fart, burp, puke, and perform all other forms of bodily functions in front of each other so looking at someone else's piddle isn't going to be a big deal for a few hours. Once the bowl is reaching maximum capacity and at the threat of clogging, then we'll flush. Or, if someone has to 'lay a bomb' as my 10 yr old son would said, I guess we'll have to flush then too. And while we're flushing, we'll also pray that it doesn't end up in someone's basement. Now, I'll have to get creative for some 'things' but that's okay (refer to the showering comment if you can't remember). I'll just keep that explaination to myself.

In what on-going ways do you try to conserve water?  And how would you conserve in an emergency situation?