Have you relaxed in your private waterfall today?
The reality of living with 60L of water a day
Only 10 more days to finish my challenge to reduce my water usage by 60L a day and I must tell the truth: I could use a shower now. Not because I'm dirty or anything — it's just because I really wanted something to relax after a long day.
I've been trying to write this diary for the past 2 days now with no success as you can see from the total of 0 publications on my profile. I wrote reflections on the impact of individual actions, on the global water crisis, on how we may have to stop eating pasta to save the planet (I might have just lost my Italian citizenship only by coming up with this hypothesis). Anyway, here is what you need to know if you want to try this challenge with me:
- I like big buckets and I cannot lie! Focus on reusing water from showering, personal hygiene and laundry to flush the toilet. If you want more details, check out Cape Town’s guide for using 50 litres of water (or less) per day here and this article from Time Magazine on What It’s Like To Live Through Cape Town’s Massive Water Crisis.
- It’s easy as 1, 2, 3… or simple as… calling your mom or a very supportive friend for ideas on how to apply the knowledge you gathered from research into your own space.
- Unforgettable in every way and forevermore does not apply when you are changing so rapidly and even brutally a behaviour. It can be as simple as pressing the toilet flush button or turning on the tap but, trust me on this, YOU WILL FORGET not to do it. Put signs to remember what you cannot do.
The short version is over. Continue reading for details or skip to a more interesting reading — no offences taken, I promise.
Day 1: "Mariah, are you crazy?"
I went out on Saturday night with some friends and got home at 5 a.m.. For some unknown reason, I decided to start my challenge at that moment. Having a shower inside my 25L bucket to collect water to flush my toilet later was not so hard and I felt pretty confident about achieving my daily goal then. Little did I know how much water I use for cooking and doing the dishes.
My friends came to my house later for dinner and that was when I failed the challenge. I had in mind to use 2L of water to cook so I could finish the day with 50L — an attempt to save 10L a day so I could use the washing machine once after 7 days. I don't know how much more I used, but I know I failed.
Who starts anything on a Sunday anyway? I'm kidding. I did something right that night though: I got a waterless sanitizer for the toilet.
Day 2: not every process is linear…
Mondays are supposed to be tough and this one followed the protocol for my misfortune. I woke up and forgot that I couldn't flush — the post-it idea came right after this stupid error. Since flushing cost me about 15% of my daily allowance, I had to think of ways of using less water on everything else. I managed to shower with 8L of water — and half of it was only waiting for the water to heat.
At some point, I had to use the flush at university that day. Another 15%. Things got serious. I got back home and decide to cook dinner. The instructions on the packaging said 1L of water to a 100g of pasta. Forget it. A perfect time for breakfast part 2, don't you think? Bananas and oatmeal sealed the deal.
Day 3: I am strong enough to live without you
No morning flush, even quicker shower. But I couldn't accept using the clean water from heating up the shower to flush. I was not feeling my best, my mom called me, told me to go get more buckets and use the water to wash some of my clothes by hand. I didn't want to buy more of them because of storage space (which there isn't). No need to say what I ended up doing.
After going to the store, I asked a friend if I could have dinner at hers. She made roasted pumpkin and something came to mind: she didn't use any water to cook it! I don't have an oven at home but I could ask a friend that lives in my building to use his.
"Dear pasta, you gotta go…"
Day 4: (but I don't have time for it)
Early morning. Had to think of something quick to cook while I was having breakfast. Guess what? Yes, pasta. 1L of water that I knew how I could have maybe replaced for 200mL by cooking something else. Sometimes you just do what you gotta do.
Last but not least: is this really a diary of future lives?
I might be doing this now as a challenge but it seems we will all be doing it together as a requirement sooner than we imagine.
