Responsible Use of Water in the Summertime

Did you know that less than one percent of the world's freshwater is available for human use? Even though the world is made up of largely water, only three percent of it is fresh and most of the fresh water is frozen at the polar ice caps. With such a small supply of water available for our growing demand, it makes sense that the Environmental Protection Agency and other environmental groups are constantly calling for conservation and reusing whatever we can to stretch our thin water supplies. In the summertime the average water usage per day jumps by about a hundred gallons for the average person.

Local governments are responding to their water supply shortages in different ways. Some are implementing higher rates for those who use the most water. Others have enacted restrictions over water usage, such as not watering your lawn between certain hours or on certain days. There are many simple steps you can take to reduce your water footprint in your local area.

Hoses are a huge source of wasted water so instead of using your hose to wash your car consider using two buckets, one filled with soapy water and one with rinse. If you can, pull your car onto your lawn to wash it. "This has two great benefits: you can water the grass or flowerbeds at the same time, and the soap and road residues percolate through the ground instead of running into the sewer where they negatively impact aquatic ecosystems." Any leftover water that you have can be used to water plants around your house. Or if you prefer professional car washes, try to find one that recycles their water.

Two of the best ways to reduce water use from your garden, whatever you're growing, are to use rain water barrels to capture the water from rooftops over the winter, and to mulch your beds - with straw, leaves, grass or even rocks and gravel. These two factors alone could eliminate almost all your municipal water use in the garden.

For lawns, grow grasses that are suitable for the temperature and moisture levels in your area and don't cut it too short, keeping it a little longer will help the soil retain moisture. You might also consider pulling up part of the lawn and replacing it with low maintenance garden beds, or some food plants, or easy care ground covers like short growing clovers, yarrow, or various hedges. You can even dot in a few well-mulched strawberry plants or pots of blueberries for a sweet and attractive treat.