Rebecca’s “26-L” Water Conservation Challenge – Prelude in Pee Minor…

 
What is the Water Conservation Challenge?
 
Basically, we're on a mission to use no more than 25-L of water per day, over as many successive days as possible (these folks suggest trying it for 30 days:  http://www.howlowflowcanyougo.com/). The idea of the Challenge is to raise awareness of how little water is needed to live comfortably, but necessary to live sustainably.
 
Why does Rebecca get 26-L?
 

Okay, so I have to admit I balked a little at this challenge when it came up at our staff meeting. I mean, if you’d wanted someone to give up T.V., read by candlelight, walk 20-minutes to the grocery store and back –I’m your gal. I’m pretty sure I could do an energy challenge without breaking a sweat. But, I’m not going to lie—being water-conscious is kind of a struggle for me. Although I’ve got the basics down, like shutting off the tap while brushing my teeth, I recognize that there are a number of other things I could and should be doing (and yes, I’ll get to these later – my time of reckoning has come). I’m only fessing up to this because I want whoever is reading to know that working for an environmental organization does not automatically mean you’re a conservation-machine able to channel the willpower of Rocky Balboa. However, I also feel that working as an environmental educator, I don’t have a good excuse for not trying:  after all, I already think it’s important to try to conserve water, and I have the knowledge to put conservation measures into practice. So what’s stopping me?
 
Well, there are a few hurdles in my 26-L* Water Conservation Challenge:
 

●       Rub-a-dub-dub:  I take longer-than-I-should showers. I’ve tried the staggered-shower method, but I just can’t seem to stand around in the cold while I’m soaping up. I’ve also tried the timer method (after 5-min – time’s up!) but I think my mistake there was putting the timer on my wrist, and then promptly pushing the “snooze” button on that one…
●       Money down the drain:  To be honest, I’ve never given that much thought to saving greywater (water that’s already been used once, to re-use for things like flushing the toilet). I think this is partly because it seems like a lot of work. I guess I’m about to find out…
●       The “simpler” things:  Yeah, I know it’s better to put a jug of water in the frigo instead of running the tap, but I have to have the forethought to do that! And the people who come along behind me will just leave it empty anyway…right?!?
 
*I’ve given myself an extra Litre to match my age – plus having one extra boosts my morale a little… 
 

These are just a handful of challenges I’m anticipating…stay tuned for my follow-up post later on this month. I’ll tell you about the strategies I devised, the tears I wept, and the surprising discoveries I made along the way…wish me luck!
 

p.s. If you need any more inspiration that regular-average-Joes can do this kind of stuff, too, check out this guy’s story: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/. The movie is pretty hilarious, considering his wife is shop-a-holic and he’s asking his family to participate in his quest to have “no impact” for a year…