Simple Green: Water Conservation, Drop by Drop

We operate under the notion that every little bit helps. In fact, we think that it's consciously making those small decisions that makes it easier to tackle the big decisions. With that in mind, we bring you a very simple green tip for the day. Jump below to find out what these two photos have in common!

We love our dog and our plants, although we'll admit that the dog gets a little more attention. But all living things need water, so we've been paying more attention to what goes down the drain.

If we've come home with half of a Nalgene of water that we know we won't drink, we pour it into our dog Fin's water bowl. Any glass of water that's about to go down the drain instead gets poured into Fin's dish, ice and all.

And when it comes time to clean out Fin's bowl, we give that water to our house plants. We do this about once a week, and our container garden loves every drop it gets.

It's a pretty tidy cycle that saves a few gallons from being wasted each month. So, it may be a small step, but it's another one of those "little things" we can all do to be more Earth-conscious. What kind of small things have you adopted around the house?

Photos via sxc.hu

Comments (6)

I give my kitties (home-)distilled water and when that's sat for a day, it goes into my orchids, which are hard-water haters.

I usually collect the water that comes out when i'm waiting for the shower to warm up and use it for plants or cleaning. it's probably a proverbial drop in the bucket (pardon my pun) but I try to reclaim as much waste as I can.

Love your little fig tree and the lime green pots, btw.

posted by whytephoenix on October 16th 2008 at 7:27am
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When I take a bath I put down the stopped before I start running the water. My theory is the cold water will turn warm when the warm water comes out.

I also never use the produce bags at the grocery store. I put all produce in the kids seat so that it doesn't get squished and is easy to give it first to the cashier (despite being asked what half of the veggies are)

posted by Maffei on October 16th 2008 at 7:48am
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Hee... I love that the water goes into your dog's bowl. Just the other day I had shower water (you know, the cold water you collect before it gets hot) but all the plants outside didn't need water so I wasn't sure what to do with it. I ended up pouring it into our dogs water canister, too! I figured, it's all tap water, and they're not picky, so why not?

posted by leanneabe on October 16th 2008 at 8:43am
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Hey Whytephoenix... Bravo...! I too collect my the water while wating for my shower to warm up. It adds up to about a gallon a day. I then use this "gray water" for a free toilet flush. I also pour unused water from my water into the shower gray water bucket.

posted by boulderorganic on October 16th 2008 at 11:55pm
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how does one successfully collect the cold bath water?

posted by iTry on October 19th 2008 at 8:11pm
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I am interested in others' cold-bathwater-collection methods too.

I have been collecting water from my kitchen faucet -- when I'm rinsing things, waiting for it to warm up, etc. I keep a tub in the one sink (use the 2nd for soapy/foody activities), & then use the water on my outdoor plants.

The tub has handles on it, so it makes it easy to pick up & pour from (it's an Ikea rubber-like one). I thought I'd get a second one to keep in the bathroom for bathwater-catching.

posted by digger61 on October 31st 2008 at 2:32pm
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