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July 09, 2007
Water
When you live on a boat, you quickly learn not to take things for granted. You have to. Like water, for example.
We carried 1,000 litres of water in our tank on Platina. We had a water maker, which made about 150 litres of water an hour. We had to be well offshore, in clean water, and needed to run our generator. To make desalinated water, we needed to deplete our diesel stores. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
New York City employs 6,000 people in the Department of Environmental Protection. They are responsible for the water that comes out of our taps, among other things.
New York City's 8-ish million people consume 1.3 to 2 billion gallons (5 to 7.5 billion litres) of water each day. What? 200 gallons (760 litres) of water per person per day? Is that even possible?
We estimate that two of us used about 1,000 litres every 10 days on Platina. That's 50 litres per person per day. To be fair, our toilets used sea water, and we didn't shower every day.
I admit that having returned to living on land, there is a certain mental accounting that does not exist when using water. It just seems to come endlessly from the faucet. Unlimited, infinite supply. I catch myself often, and return to the discipline of conservation. Imagine that you have a tank in your basement with only 1,000 litres of water. It will cost you $1,000 to fill it when it's empty. How will your consumption patterns change?
Here's some ways to conserve water in your home.
Posted by dave at July 9, 2007 08:09 AM