As of 05 June 2020 (Friday), I’ve had my water completely turned off. Why?
The previous months, I’ve had a water leak. Yeah, so what? You say: ‘Fix the damn leak will ya.’ Easier said that done. You see, I live out in the country. The water meter that reads and controls my water is almost ¾ of a mile from my house.
Plus, the water pipe either runs cross-country through 03 other different properties or it runs parallel to the dirt road (easement road) going to my house. I asked, and nobody but nobody knows where the pipe is located running to my house.
Here are the reasons I ordered the water to be turned off:
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Water Stats
Date Paid Gallons
12 May 2020————$127.00—————–8,886
08 June 2020———–$098.72—————–6,150
08 July 2020———–$027.94——————-400
(left-over from previous bill)
There is no way that I can use 8,886 gallons of water in a single month. Heck, I don’t think I even use 400 gallons in a month. To find the water leak, the ground has to be bone dry. When the ground is bone dry, I’ll have the water turned on and then look for the leak.
So what am I doing for water? First let me tell you about the Average Water Consumption for common uses and I want to tell you about Water Wars.
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Average Water Consumption
USE GALLONS
Bath————————————————————-35 – 50
Brushing Teeth——————————————unknown
Car Wash—————————————————–035
Car Wash by hand—————————————000
Dish Washer———————————————–010
Flushing Toilet—————————————–001.7 – 007
Pet Bath—————————————————unknown
Shower——————————————————017
Washing Dishes by hand (running water)——030
Washing Machine—————————-05 – 30
Watering Lawn——————————-160
Average Daily Water Use Per Person———-088
Average Daily Water Use Per Average Family——300
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Water Wars!
I’ve been reading about Water Wars since the 1990s, but I’m sure there were Water Wars long before that.
You just read about Average Water Consumption here in the great United States of America. Now get this, the population of the United States is approximately 328,000,000. And the population of the United States uses approximately 322,000,000,000 gallons of water each day.
322,000,000,000 gallons of water per day. That’s a heck of a lot of water.
Now what about farms throughout the United States. All those farms growing all those billions of acres of fruits and vegetables. Farmers depend on rain to water their crops. Farmers also depend on billions and billions of gallons of water from lakes, reservoirs and rivers to grow their crops. And what about all those herds of cows, goats, sheep, chickens, pigs, horses,… that need water.
Now what if the billions of gallons of rain is missing? What if it doesn’t snow like it’s supposed to so to have all that billions of gallons of melted snow in the Spring time? Lord have mercy, they’ll be a GREAT DEMAND for water from lakes, rivers and reservoirs. The DEMAND FOR WATER will be so great, you’ll have Water Wars. Now what the heck is a Water War?
No, it isn’t a bunch of kids in the backyard shooting & hitting each other with water pistols, water cannons, water balloons,…
Water Wars are conflicts between countries, states, counties over the rights to access water resources.
Water Wars are recorded as far back as 2,000 B.C.
In modern history, during World War II, a German Dam was targeted by the US. A Russian hydroelectric dam was targeted by the Germans. During the Vietnam War, the US targeted North Vietnamese irrigation canals.
Recently, well for the last 200-years, the states of Georgia and Tennessee have had disputes over water rights along their borders.
Georgia also has disputes with Alabama and Florida over water rights.
In California, the city of Los Angeles had disputes over water between farmers and ranchers in the Owens Valley located in eastern California.
Predictions of future wars will be over water and not land, politics,… I’m having a Water War with myself. Now let’s carry-on with What The Heck Am I Doing For Water?
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What The Heck Am I Doing For Water?
I am actually catching rain water and purchasing water at a thing called Twice The Ice in Sparta, IL.
The rain water is used to maintain the water level in my watergarden of koi fish, flush toilets and scrub the floors in my house.
Instead of purchasing water at the local Walmart for .80 cents to $1 for a single gallon of water, I go to the Twice The Ice.
At the Twice The Ice, I fill-up my 05 06-gallon water containers. I purchase 05-gallons of filtered water for just $1.
The water that I drink, I put it through my Purr Pitcher to purify the water. Let me tell you how I use water so none of it is wasted and used multiple times.
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Drinking Water: The water I get from Twice The Ice, states that it’s ‘filter water.’ To me, that means it’s not purified water. So any water I drink, is put through my Purr Pitcher to purify it for contaminants.
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Drinking Water, Pets: I always rinse the water bowls before I re-fill them with water. Instead of throwing the water down the drain, I add it to 01 of my 03 ‘toilet flushing’ buckets.
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Flushing Toilet: I have 03 buckets dedicated to flushing the toilet. I do not put the water in the tank. I pour the dirty water directly in the toilet. I fill the 03 buckets from the dish washing water that is too dirty to clean for scrubbing the floors. See Scrubbing Floors.
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Hand Wash & Rinse Bowl Concoction: I’m always washing my hands many times a day. So I have a small 01-quart bowl that I have in my kitchen. In it is just barely enough Dawn Dish Soap (BLUE) to barely turn the water to a color of light blue. I simply dip my hands in the concoction, swish them around for a second or so and then dry off my hands. There’s no need to rinse my hands. I use this concoction all day and throw the concoction in my yellow mop bucket (see Scrubbing Floors below). I make a new Hand Wash & Rinse Bowl Concoction for the next day.
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Scrubbing Floors: See Washing Dishes By Hand and Washing Clothes By Hand. With all the water used to clean the dishes, I use this water to scrub the floors and flushing the toilet. If the water is fresh and clear. I get my small blue fish net and filter the water multiple times so it’s clear and FREE of ALL debris. I’ll use this water to scrub the floors. If the water is too murky and filled with debris, I’ll use this water to flush the toilet. I have 03 buckets dedicated to flushing the toilet.
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Shower: I have 05-gallon bucket dedicated for showering. The 05-gallon bucket is located near the drain. I’ll add 03-gallons of pure water to the bucket. I’ll then add 01-gallon of HOT WATER to the 03-gallons. I’ll get in the bathtub at the other end of the bathtub and pour water over me just to get me all wet. I’ll then get my large dripping wet wash cloth and bar of soap and scrub down real good from top to bottom. I’ll them get my small container and start pouring water over me using most of the remaining water. Once I’m thoroughly rinsed-off. I’ll use the remaining water to brush my teeth. I hop out and dry off. Hey, I’m only using 04-gallons of water instead of 17-gallons to shower-up squeaky clean. See Snow Bath below.
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Snow Bath: A snow bath is scrubbing down with snow. It’s COLD alright but refreshing. But here’s a version of the Snow Bath using less than ½-gallon of water. To bathe real quick, I have a 01-gallon Rubber Maid container. I add ½ gallon of water to it and put it in the microwave for 04-minutes. With the hot water, I add just barely a ½ squirt of Dawn Dish Soap (BLUE). I put 09 to 12 wash clothes in the container and let them soak for several minutes. I then scrub down from top to bottom. DO NOT USE too much Dawn Soap (BLUE) or you’ll be feeling sudsy all day long. THERE’S NO NEED TO RINSE. This technique will surprisingly get you real clean. Use the used wet wash clothes to clean the hardwood floor. The left-over water will go in my yellow bucket to scrub the floors.
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Washing Clothes By Hand: IF I have to wash any clothes, I’ll put the clothes in a small bucket of hot water with a little bit of Dawn Dish Soap (BLUE). The Dawn Dish Soap has to be BLUE (see Note below). I’ll let the clothes soak for an hour and then I’ll swish them around and let them soak for another hour. No need to rinse them. I’ll wring them out and hang them on the clothes line for a day or two. The remaining water, I’ll add to my yellow bucket to scrub the floors.
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Washing Clothes, Blankets,…: To wash my clothes, blankets,… I go to the laundromat. I try to time the laundromat when I have business or shopping in Sparta, IL to save gas money. See Washing Clothes By Hand.
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Washing Dishes By Hand: To wash dishes, I have a 01-gallon Rubber Maid container. I add almost a full gallon of water to it and put it in the microwave for 12-minutes. With the HOT WATER, I add 02 good squirts of Dawn Dish Soap (BLUE). I place a dish in the sink and pour a little water on the dish. I add the next dish and add a little water on the dish. This dish with hot water will spread out the hot water to the dish below it. I keep stacking dishes and bowls and adding hot water to each dish and bowl. Once I have all the soaking dishes, bowls,… stacked in the sink, I let them sit & soak for at least 45-minutes for the hot soapy water to loosen all the debris. I then use a gallon container or spray bottle of clean water to rinse all the dishes, bowls,… All the rinsing water goes in the same sink. I then add all the remaining things that need to be washed. These things are rinsed by more clean water and the rinsing water runs off in the same sink. See Flushing Toilet and Scrubbing Floors.
Note: I was doing laundry at the laundromat. I asked the lady working there on how to take stains out of clothes. She told me to rub Dawn Dish Soap, BLUE into the stain and let it sit there overnight. Guess what? It WORKS! Why? Have no idea. But I did use another Dawn Dish Soap that wasn’t BLUE and it didn’t work to remove the stains. I use Dawn Dish Soap (BLUE) to bathe real quick and to soak & wash my clothes (besides laundromat – see Washing Clothes, Blankets,…).
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Monthly Stats Purchasing Water!
MONTH GALLONS PAID
June 2020——————–43——————–$43.00
July 2020——————–37——————–$37.00
August 2020————–TBA——————-TBA
Note: In June 2020, there was a dry spell and I used about 10-gallons of water for my watergarden (koi fish) to help raise the water level.
TBA = To Be Announced
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Now Here’s My Point To All Of This!
I’ve just proved that you don’t need a lot of water on a daily basis and can SAVE MONEY by using a lot less water. And by using a lot less water, you’re helping your environment. You don’t need to use 17-gallons of water to take a shower. I proved that you can take a good squeaky clean shower using only 04-gallons of water instead of 17-gallons. Multiply that by 30. Or how about a Snow Bath using only ½ gallon of water.
What if the entire population of the United States (328,000,000) used these techniques instead of using 17-gallons of water to take a shower on a daily basis? Each day the United States would SAVE 4,264,000,000-gallons of water each day. Saving 4,264,000,000-gallons of water each day would put our lakes and reservoirs back in a healthy state. And much of that SAVED WATER would go to the farms for all those billions of acres of crops and water for all those herds of livestock across the nation.
But you and I know that isn’t going to happen. By reading this, now you know you can get by with a lot less water than you’re currently using.
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Paperback Book—————Kindle E-Book
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