apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I love the faucet pedal, the europeans thought of that one way before motion sensing faucets...and it's just as clean/green.

My shower head has a water conserving setting, so that when I'm shampooing or lathering up soap - only a small stream or water runs (equivalent to toothbrush picture above) keeping the water temp consistent but saving some water. I love it. Great for shaving legs too.

i don't do this now because I live in a condo and it's not as feasable in my space, but growing up our washing machine would drain into a bucket instead of "the great beyond" and we would use that for all kinds of things. It's gray water so you shouldn't drink it, but there are many uses for it.

I splurged on an automatic faucet when I remodeled the bathroom - it only runs for 10 seconds at a time, so I saved money by getting one that only hooks up to cold water (as it would never run long enough to get hot, even with the tankless water heater nearby).

I think the faucet might have been the best decision of the whole remodel - definitely saving water and so convenient when brushing teeth or washing hands.

I'd really like to figure out how to re-use the bathtub water, but I'm two stories up and only have balconies. If anyone has any ideas...

this summer I lived in an old house with a dehumidifier in the basement beside the washing machine. That thing collected a full tank of water every two days so I would just empty it into the washing machine when I was about to do a load and use the rest for watering plants etc.

When I rinse out the coffee maker in the morning, I use the rinse water to give the indoor plants a little drink.

Turn the shower off while sudsing up. This is easy in the South where it's warm all year round!

Use a rain barrel to collect water for the garden.

If you're in the market for a new one, get a really efficient dishwashing machine and use the "short wash" setting for everything. It works just the same in the newer models. Same goes for the clothes washer, use the short wash if it's for clothes that you haven't sweat in.

nickel525, where can you get that shower head with the water saving option? Sounds great!!!

Here's the thing about water conservation (and this is coming from numerous hydrologists I've worked with): municipal water use is less than 10% of the total human water use, while about 69% of water goes to agriculture. One hydrologist actually told me that the water saved from conserving it in your home is negligible. But people like to think they're doing something...

It's more productive to focus on energy conservation.

Westie - let's focus on both. You probably aren't the most prolific consumer of plastic on the planet, either, but I hope that doesn't stop you from reducing, reusing, and recycling. Thoughtful use of our personal resources leads to thoughtful use of our communal resources. :) I hope!