In April, Gov. Jerry Brown signed an executive order mandating water reduction throughout the state. “As Californians, we have to pull together and save water in every way we can,” he said in a statement. “This executive order, which I signed today, it’s long, it covers a number of different details. In fact, I’ve never seen one quite like it before.”
At The Ecology Center, we believe that saving water is most effective when we make eco-friendly lifestyle choices. Below are easy ways to save water simply by making a few changes to your daily habits.
1. Buy locally from a farmers market – Energy is water. Local food saves energy and water. The closer your food is grown to your kitchen the less water that is used in packaging and transportation.
2. Eat veggies instead of meat once a week – A pound of beef takes about 1,200 gallons to produce. That’s water embedded into the growth of the grain, bathing, transportation and packaging.
3. Plant a rain garden (reduces water pollution by 30 percent) – A rain garden prevents the rainwater that falls from your roof from running into the street, picking up pollution before it enters the ocean. Instead, a rain garden utilizes this rain to create a beautiful garden at your back door.
4. Catch rainwater – For each inch of rain falling on a 1,000-square-foot roof, you can catch over 600 gallons.
5. Wear organic cotton – Regenerative cotton is recycled and therefore doesn’t consume water in its production. Cotton as a crop consumes an incredible amount of water in its growth, processing and dyeing.
6. Take your car to the car wash – A commercial car wash is regulated by law to filter and reuse the water, rather than let it run down your driveway into the street.
7. Use a bucket to catch water while washing vegetables or waiting for your shower water to heat up – When washing produce, or waiting for your shower to heat up, place a bucket under the faucet. The water can be reused to water your garden, therefore reusing every drop.
8. Use natural cleaners (reduces water pollution) – Biodegradable soaps and cleaners keep our oceans clean. Everything that goes down the drain eventually ends up in the ocean. With biodegradable soaps no harm will be done to the ocean.
9. Put a brick in the toilet tank to reduce water waste with every flush – A brick displaces the volume of water each time you flush the toilet. Just that easy!
10. Divert water from your laundry to water your yard – Each time you wash your clothes you save gallons of water that would traditionally be used as irrigation water.
Evan Marks is the founder and executive director of The Ecology Center, a nonprofit environmental educational center in San Juan Capistrano.
