Save a fish - Shower with a friend

Save a fish

Sorry no picutre this time.

Help save a fish, shower with a friend. Sound ridiculous? Not entirely.

Every year at this time as I fish the higher elevation lakes in the local watersheds, slipping and sinking in the muddy shore lines, I give extra thoughts to water conservation. Gone are the lush foreshores of early spring and summer to be replaced by muddy banks as the reservoirs are drawn to their lowest levels.

Each year the demand for domestic water and irrigation water for agriculture increases by leaps and bounds. The solution always seems to be to build more reservoirs, more pumping stations and more treatment facilities. However, there are many small measures we can take to reduce our water usage from the mountain reservoirs, which when added up can make quite a difference.

We are all aware of the importance of certain principles for irrigating: water only the required areas (not roads and sidewalks). Set your sprinklers or drip irrigation system to come on in the evening and morning hours.

Urbanization demands more water and also unfortunately helps to destroy the natural water conserving qualities of the land. Swamps are drained or filled to make way for developments and of course with new subdivisions and higher population density there is always a greater demand for paved roads. Paved or concrete roads are relatively impervious to water and rather than naturally seeping into the water table the rain rushes into the water-courses. Now, if someone could develop a road surface that is both environmentally- and vehicle-friendly that would be great.

Perhaps though some of the biggest advances can come with regard to domestic use. Many changes can be made to house design to reduce ineffectual water usage. In most homes there is quite a distance between hot water tanks and sinks or showers. Running the water until it gets warm is a waste of many litres of water. New construction or renovations with hot water tanks installed near any outlet requiring hot water, sinks, tubs and washing machines would be more environmentally friendly.

Food for thought, if every toilet in the Okanagan were a low flush toilet using on 6 litres of water per flush, our daily consumption would be over 5,000,000 litres daily, just for this necessity alone. There are still a lot of older high volume toilets still out there at the present. The old adage “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down,“ sounds a little gross, but it is one means of conserving water. Anyone interested in investigating the waterless toilet system that has as its’ by-product a humus which can be used for fertilizer? Water is a precious resource and one of the reasons most of us have moved to this area, yet as our population explodes the amount available is slowly diminishing. Perhaps it is time to incorporate some water saving solutions into our building codes.

Think about saving fish while you are doing little things like brushing your teeth. Leaving the tap running easily uses 80% more water in this simple task. Sure it’s nice to stand under the running shower while washing your hair or soaping, but it sure uses a lot more water. I’ve checked it out and I when I shower that way I use as much water as if I were having a bath.

Now I some times love to soak in a bath after a long sweaty day at work or other physical exercise. It stands to reason that two bodies in the tub use far less water. Hmmm. I think I’ll save a fish and either shower or bathe with a friend.

Do your bit to save a fish, shower with a fiend too.