This post is for everyone that plans on living on or is currently living on a homestead and wants to conserve water. I’m not trying to lecture or convince people to conserve water. But for those of you that want to learn how to save water on the homestead, read on.
There are many reasons you might need to conserve water on a homestead; you live in a drought prone area, your well is shallow and dries up in the summer, you don’t have running water at all, or you have a gray water system. Or maybe like in Fairbanks, Alaska, your water in your well is contaminated with arsenic, mercury from mining, or some other pollutant and you have to bring water in from somewhere else. Whatever the reason, making the transition to conserving water can be overwhelming, especially if you grew up living in a area with an abundance of water, like I did in the Pacific Northwest.
Like I said I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, Oregon, to be exact. We had two creeks (one seasonal, one year round) a spring, and clean deep well on our property with water rights to it all. Water conservation was not an issue there. Since I left home, I’ve moved 23 times for work and school and lived in some situations where water conservation was critical. Now I’m not saying I lived in the Sahara as a nomad herding goats or anything but here are some examples of my life style that I hope will convince you I know what I’m talking about in terms of water conservation.
Field Camp: Water from the pond
- I’ve lived in three ‘houses’ that have no running water at all. My husband and I had an outhouse, and used less than 5 gallons of water a day for washing dishes, cooking, and drinking. Water was packed into our house in 5 gallon blue jugs that we filled up in town. We showered about once every three days and did laundry at the laundromat. We lived this way on and off for a total of 3 years.
- I lived in field camp for two months for three different summers where we filtered water out of the same pond we bathed. All water had to be carried up the hill. Again, outhouse. And we hand washed our clothes. This was for work by the way.
- I spent two six month periods living in a tent, out of my car, or on the weekends, in a ‘house’ with water that was gravity fed down to the sink in the house. It was non-potable. Water drained into a 5 gallon bucket. There were no showers. This again was for work. Again outhouses. I bathed once a week, sometimes in a creek. I did laundry once a month at the laundromat.
- My husband and I lived in a grey water system house with a shower that was supplied from a 1000 gallon buried water tank that we had to pay to be filled up. We used a 5 gallon jug of water to wash dishes with that drained under our house and into the driveway. Gross! We had an outhouse and did our laundry at work.
- My husband and I now live in a real house where we have a toilet and an outhouse, running sinks, dishwasher, and a washing machine. Hooray! We do not have outside plumbing so no hoses, irrigation systems or anything. We have a 1000 gallon buried water tank that supplies the house, that we either fill up ourselves from a 300 gallon tank in the back of our pickup, filled up at a municipal water source at $0.025/gallon, or we have the water delivered at $0.09/gallon. We have another 250 gallon water tank that we fill up in the summer for the garden.
After 17 years of using water frugally and/or paying an arm and a leg for water I’m telling you these small ways of conserving water really do work. They will save you water and money. I know these ideas seem like small things that maybe wouldn’t add up but my family of five goes through 1,000 gallons of water every three weeks, excluding rain barrel water. We use slightly more during the gardening season maybe 1,300 gallons. So that’s about 12 1/2 gallons of water a day. The average person in the US in 2015 used 83 gallons per person per day. So I’m telling you these methods work!
- Sinks
- Wash your dishes, that need to be done by hand, in a big bowl or tub instead of under running water.
- Warm up your dish water with a tea kettle instead of letting the water run until it warms up. Ditto for washing your face if you really are short on water.
- Don’t let the water run while washing your hands or brushing your teeth.
- Don’t turn the tap on all the way when washing your hands or rinsing your dishes, turn it on about 1/3 of the way, max.
- Any extra water, old water bottles, dregs of the tea kettle, pour it in a plant or the dog water bowl, not down the drain.
- Dishes
- Use the same cup, plate, or dish for multiple things. Just because you drank juice out of a cup doesn’t mean you can’t give it a quick rinse and drink water out of it. It’s the same with plates. My husband and I will often still pass each other a soup bowl or plate when we’re done with it so the other person can use it after them. I drink out of the same water cup for a week.
- Toilets
- The old saying is true, “If it’s yellow let it mellow”. I flush the toilet about every 4th time, as long as it’s only yellow.
- Get a low flush toilet or an outhouse or both.
- Laundry
- I pack the washing machine full. I never just wash one thing or two things, ever. It’s a huge waste of water.
- Clothes are not dirty just because you wear them once. Exceptions to the rule of course are clothes you butcher in, clean out the chicken house in, or really messy kids. I wear the same pair of pants and sweatshirt for a week.
- Designate a coat and a pair of pants for dirty outside chores that way you don’t have to wash them very often. Hang them outside if you prefer.
- I don’t let my kids change their clothes or pajamas every day. They change their clothes when they appear dirty or we shower them. Or if they fall in chicken poo, it happens.
- Showers
- Don’t shower every day and if you do limit it to the bare bones. I can shower in under five minutes easy.
- I shower my kids once maybe twice a week max. Of course they are not smelly hormonal teenagers so you might want to increase the number of showers as they get older.
- Outside
- Put rain barrels under your downspouts if it’s legal in your area. This is my primary water source for watering animals, herbs, and flowers. Make sure you have a couple of five gallon water buckets for hauling water.
- Don’t water your lawn, what’s the point, then you’ll just have to mow it more often.
- Deep water your garden. I water my garden once a week a lot. This makes the roots of the plants grow deep into the ground allowing you to water less frequently. I water sprouts more often, maybe twice a week.
- Don’t grow flowers or grow very few. I grow one pot of flowers every year because they are pretty but they aren’t edible and they take up water.
- If you live on sloped property, dig a holding pond for watering your garden or animals. I haven’t done this yet but my neighbor has.
- If possible put your gardens and animals downhill of the holding tank, holding pond or rain barrels so you can haul water DOWNHILL! Very important. This way you’ll actually use the water from the downspouts since it will be easier.
