once again sink...sink.... will I ever learn?

Your example of thawing shrimp made me laugh.

I take brief showers, put a brick in the toilet to reduce the volume of water, turn the tap off when I brush my teeth, but -- yep, that's the way I thaw shrimp!

Well, I suppose I'm saving some water with the first three....

TANSTAAFL ... There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.

Do you SERIOUSLY think that the landlord didn't raise rent if needed to compansate for water wasters and electricity overusage? You might not have paid, but I bet the next tenant did.

I can't imagine the water bills in a apt complex...for the landlord...people who own the bldg....My water bill is hefty and I conserve.... yikes!

The bills come out of the tenants pockets ... as soon as the relationship between their water usage and rent hikes becomes clear, most of them become conservative.

It is possible to have sub-meters that tracks usage for individual apartments and prorate the bills accordingly.

Yes, the tragedy of the commons...

And thawing shrimp (or turkey) under running cold water is the best way to defrost! You only need a small flow.

The shower also works great as a humidifier for the winter.

Even with the 2.5 gpm flow restrictors, showers are still where most of my water usage goes. A 20 minute shower uses 50 gallons. I have a house with a 50-gal water heater, so the hot water runs out eventually.

Hello, People!

I've really enjoyed whiling away some time reading many of these postings. I've appreciated the remarks regarding noisy neighbours and useless landlords. None of these, though, encouraged me to add my thoughts until now.

Please, please, please keep this in mind: the importance of saving water has nothing to do with finance. Rather, water is a finite and dwindling resource and we should be very conservative in order to leave as much as we possibly can for future generations. Therefore do try to save every drop you can.

Shrimp should be defrosted in the refrigerator. Any other way leaves the food open to bacterial invasion and can make you sick to death. This doesn't mean I don't quick thaw it myself!

I take 3 minute showers -- it was solidly ingrained in me as a child, where as the youngest of 9 children, and living in a house with a very small hot water heater, you learned quickly not to waste hot water.

It drives me crazy that my husband can stand in the shower for 15 or 20 minutes. What's the point of that???

The water is NOT free. It is part of your rent. I try to conserve as much as possible. I am guility for wasting at times.

Rather, water is a finite and dwindling resource and we should be very conservative in order to leave as much as we possibly can for future generations. Therefore do try to save every drop you can.

this always confuses me. Isn't the earth pretty much a closed ecosystem? Where is our water going, when we use it? Back out to the rivers and streams (via the sewer system). Or, into our own backyard soil. Or, into the air as water vapor, and eventually it'll float up and get into some cloud somewhere.

At least, that's how I always understood the water cycle.

We're saving water not for FUTURE generations, but for our own municipalities RIGHT NOW. NYC right now probably has plenty of water in its reservoirs, and if we use a lot of it, it doesn't hurt us. But if rainfall is scarce one year and the water level drops, we'll be encouraged not to use more than we need, so that we'll have it NOW.

Some municipalities, such as those in Arizona, have a greater need to conserve water year-round, bcs the topography of their land is such that not a lot of water is available around them. And since they can't efficienty tap into NYC's water, or the Mississippi, they have to use what they've got, which ain't that much.

Also, some parts of the globe are drying out, but some are also GAINING water. It's called "climate change." I don't think the planet as a whole is losing water to outer space--is it?

My understanding of the earth's water cycle is slightly different. I agree that the water is used, evaporates, and returns to earth as rain; however, the returned rain is not necessarily pure and/or clean enough to drink/cook with. There is a natural purifying system "built into" the cycle, but my understanding is that we are using more water than nature can clean. So, it is true that if you use too much water in certain areas that you will literally run out of water in a "dry" season, but it is also true that we are doing more damage to water than the earth can repair thereby affecting future generations.

Taralee, my husband comes from 9 in his family. Him being a boy and older had to take a shower second to last. The water was cold, always.
So one day, years ago. I pulled him in the shower with me.
He wigged out at the warm water. Turned out he still took them cold. It has taken me years but he now takes warm showers. He deserves too. He also has been known to go over the 5 minute mark. He was a speed devil once, 2-3 minutes and done.

We are not using the water up, but there are more of us using it....and we are using it to water golf courses and fill swimming pools and that leaves less in the rivers and behind dams for drinking water....
Seen Lake Meade lately? Ever fly over southern California and the Phoenix/Scottsdale area? Lots of desert...and suddingly it's nothing but green spotted with blue pools. Takes a lot of water to keep a lawn in a desert.
Linda C

I would like to comment on the water shortage. Lindac is correct in that the same amount of water is present, however, the fresh (drinkable) water is being used irresponsibly and being tainted with industrial chemicals.

A minimal amount of the world's water is actually drinkable - like 10%. Most water is sea water and thus we are unable to comnsume it. Measures by the "environmentalists" are making headway into researching ways to convert sea water into drinking water, but it proves too costly for most governments and people to take seriously right now.

Plus the chemicals being dumped in the water supply is not getting cleaned through the natural cleansing process because the chemicals are not biodegradable. Right now, they are collecting at the bottom of the World's oceans creating "Dead Zones".

If you don't know how this can happen, do this simple experiment:

Get a glass jar and fill it quarter way full of water. Dissolve sugar, a tablespoon at a time and taste at regular intervals. At first you will not even taste the sugar. Then eventually, you will get a pleasent sweet taste. Keep adding sugar until the water becomes sticky (you have made a crude simple syrup). Eventually, the water will stop being able to dissolve any more sugar (you will see sugar crystals at the bottom) creating the equivalent of Dead Zones in the jar. (If you want to keep adding sugar, you will end up with nothing more than moist sugar.)

To add to this effect, the polar ice caps are melting, adding more salt to the water. In essence, the amount of water is less important than the quality. We need to conserve drinkable water NOW.

I do that by limiting the amount of water I use by getting wet in the shower, turning off water, scrubbing down, then rinsing. Either I take a bath or stand up and washing in the sink (saves both time and water). I plan to invest in systems that use "gray water" to flush toilets when I get my house in about two years.

I thaw all of my food in the refrigerator.

Candice

nicely said.

Thank you Diydana. I didn't want to be too heavy handed but it is a grave situation.

Candice

I know I'll be yelled at for this, but some parts of the country have water in abundance, so conservation is not really a major issue. Here in the mountains of East TN, we get 50" to 90" of rain per year, enough for temperate rain forests to thrive on some west-facing mountain slopes. The problem is generally TOO MUCH water. Before TVA, catastrophic floods were much more common. Our reservoirs are full of millions of acre-feet of water, even at drawn-down levels in the winter time. Unfortunately, there is no reasonable, cost-effective way to divert surplus water to areas like the Potomac valley with its occasional needs, or especially to areas like the desert Southwest where the needs are often critical. Instead, millions of gallons per second make their way out the mouth of the Mississippi.

Polluting water is of course as grave an issue here as almost anywhere, but there is no forseeable water shortage here. There may be spot shortages in places in the Valley, but they are quite the exception. Right now the water tables are saturated and the rivers are running brim full where they are not controlled by dams.

This is really a regional issue. A serious one, I'll admit, but water conservation here, though a lofty ideal, isn't critical.

Spewey, I don't know why you would be "yelled at" for having an opinion, even one as misdirected as yours.

The point I was making was that even though your region of the USA may be abundant with drinkable water, I bet no one there in their right mind lets their children eat snowflakes as they did in my childhood thirty years ago. This is because the water (snow) is saturated with industrial chemicals, car fumes, and the like, not because it is not abundant.

In fact, at least 60% of the Earth's surface is water, however drinkable water is only 10% of that. This water comes from rivers, streams, and man made reserves. Efforts to desalinate sea water to drinkable water have its critics and its skeptics. What can we benefit from waiting until there is a crisis when we can do something about water quality now?

Again, the shortage is not in amount of water, as stated in your post, but it is in quality of water on a global scale. The global problem happens on a regional, no, personal scale that's why individual conservation does make a difference...if ever so slight. Six billion small sacrifices make a big difference.

Like I said previously, conservation needs to happen before the serious situation becomes a critical one.

Candice

Melting polar ice caps add salt to the system?

We had rented an apartment where we were charged for water. I always watched how much we used because I wanted to keep the cost down. When we moved out, I found out that they had only 1 meter and the water bill was divided equally among all the tenants.

Hmmm... forget the water. Anyone using the natural gas to run a generator which generates electricity for your place?

candice...

people let their children eat fast food.

lots of people let their children drink koolaid.

and oddly enough, our livers aren't wearing out all that much faster than they were a hundred years ago.

industrial wastes have been a problem since the dawn of civilization- the emperor Hadrian mentioned that crops weren't growing downstream of the potteries, which used all sorts of things in their glazes.

we have things like livers because 'pure' is a rare thing in this world- even without humans, there are whole stretches of places with mercury counts that give me the willies, just for starters.

there is a balance between being afraid to eat a snowflake, and dumping car oil in the storm drain, I think.

and johnjohn... are you nuts? unless I was generating the natural gas myself?

that's about the least efficient way to generate electricy I can think of. might as well be running a deisel generator!

if you can't do solar, consider wind. if you can't do wind- you need water.

or start keeping bees to make candles.

To thaw any frozen food such as shrimp or a fish/ tuna---take the food and put in a good ziplock bag--put in a large bowl and fill with lukewarn-cool water. If needed put a heavy object on top to keep from floating (it will thaw without this but it is fun to do) and within 20 minutes your product will be ready to cook. Take out of the bag and rinse. Put in a clean bown and refrigerate until you are ready to cook. I have done this for YEARS and it sure beats thinking about dinner before hand!

Hi China Cat Sunflower,

Yes, I know people do all sorts of things that compromise our livers and immune systems, that does not mean we need to ADD to the problem. And 100 years ago, children did not develop diabetes. What changed?

Ever wonder why there are more cases of childhood obesity and diabetes? Ever wonder why there is an explosion of "rare" diseases now showing up in more and more of the population (my 33 year old male cousin has been diagnosed with ocular pre-tumors which has been previously found only in menopausal women. And what is a "pre-tumor"?)? Ever wonder why there is an explosion in ADD, ADHD and autism in boys under 25 in the US (both of my nephews are afflicted  one with ADHD and the other with autism)? Ever wonder why non-smokers are now getting LUNG CANCER (can it be all of the cancerous fumes)?

There is something going on that canÂt be explained away with little more than a hope that our livers will filter out the poisons. We need to stop them from entering our bodies and environment from the beginning.

The sad thing itÂs not "industrial wastes", but people driving 6 miles to get a gallon of milk. It is millions of cars on the road carrying only one person. It is millions of people driving two hours a day  ten hours a week  just to get to work. It is millions of people driving everywhere they go that is creating the problems which contribute to the pollution. This pollution is coming back to haunt us and it isnÂt just going away with wishful thinking.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
candice...
people let their children eat fast food.

lots of people let their children drink koolaid.

and oddly enough, our livers aren't wearing out all that much faster than they were a hundred years ago.

industrial wastes have been a problem since the dawn of civilization- the emperor Hadrian mentioned that crops weren't growing downstream of the potteries, which used all sorts of things in their glazes.

we have things like livers because 'pure' is a rare thing in this world- even without humans, there are whole stretches of places with mercury counts that give me the willies, just for starters.

there is a balance between being afraid to eat a snowflake, and dumping car oil in the storm drain, I think.

Hi John John,

No, melting polar ice caps add fresh water to the global water system. This would dilute the salt water AND pollutants, but also we would need to swim to work. Since I can't swim, I'd prefer to leave the fresh water locked inside of them and reduce pollution.

Also, a better solution for alternate energy would be a manual generator. Hand-cranked. But being bulky and hard to maintain, this would be too much of an inconvenience for the average American to handle.

Candice L.

Diluting the ocean with melting glacial water would not be a good thing. If all the ice caps and glacial ice melted, everything in the ocean would DIE. Even before it was all melted, everything would be dead. The creatures that live in the ocean NEED salt water to live in. They are designed for it.

Has anyone ever ever owned a salt water fish tank as a hobby?? The salinity must be tested and maintained constantly. It has to be a certain proportion, or POOF, all the expensive fish are dead.

Now if the Earth's average temp were to go up a number of degrees, and the ice caps melted there may be an accelerated evaporation rate from the ocean due to the higher temp and the water would end up elsewhere. But there is to way to control where or that it would be beneficial. With the Earth's atmosphere like a hot, steamy sauna some flora and fauna would adapt and evolve but there would be a huge die off of most of what we know today.

There is no way to predict all the variables involved in climate changes and the outcome. Best not to mess with it.

Personally, I've always wondered why they don't hook up generators to the exercise equipment in health clubs.

clean dirnkable water is getting scarce with more people and homes being built all the time. we should all do our part to conserve all our natural resorces. the water in your apartments is not free just because you don't directly pay the bill for it. as a landlord I would raise my rent if I had a tenant that I believed was being wasteful with the water. I would tell them in certin terms that this was the reason for the five or so dollar incresse per month. I do not understand how you can think that the water, heat or trash service is free just because you don't get the bill, if you pay to live there it's part of the rent you are paying. Same thing goes for the property taxes that pay for schools, roads and other local comunity services. the owner has to get the money to pay this stuff and where do you think it comes from? if you said your rent you are thinking like an educated adult. Hardly anything in this world is free anymore except maybe a smile the rest is just included at no extra cost if you are not being billed for it.

I have a High efiency washer and only do full loads. I have change to a programable thermostat to save on gas in my building. Both me and my tenant are happy with that. because the temprature is lower when we are not home, this alows me to set it at a more warm comfortable level when we are there than the pervious owner did for them. and I am using less fuel acording to the gas company than in the past years.

Yikes, Marie26. Never considered that we may be sharing the water bill with all the neighbors. Water is costly here so we really try to conserve. Probably doesn't matter if it's shared or ours, we'd still do the same thing. Just never thought about the possibility.

I dont think I waste water.For one the apartment I live in has a SMALL water heater,so if you're in the shower for more then 10-15 minutes,you will be freezing cold!!!

I dont eat alot of shrimp...I turn the water off while brushing my teeth.I'm pretty enviromentally aware.