Peak Water - Downsizing Our Water Footprint

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Peak Water - Downsizing Our Water Footprint
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If it's brown ...

Pull the flush

66%

[ 12 ]

Chuck a bit of old bathwater down

16%

[ 3 ]

Run to Mum screaming "what's Dad / brother done in there?

[ 0 ]

No worries, I've a compost toilet

16%

[ 3 ]

Total Votes : 18

Author

Message

Dumnonian

Joined: 27 Feb 2011
Posts: 67
Location: North Devon

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 10:29 am Post subject: Peak Water - Downsizing Our Water Footprint

.

With human population at 7 billion, and expected to go on increasing to over 9 billion before numbers start decreasing - if current trends continue, and individual consumption also increasing in wealthier countries, fresh water is a rapidly depleting resource. How will we manage with less?

Thatï¿½s the tough bit. Now hereï¿½s the fun bit. A quiz!

Find out where you are in the global water consumption stakes.

British domestic water consumption is only a quarter of the USA and Australia and even a lot less than people in continent Europe. Do we shower less and smell a bit more natural perhaps?

In the UK, thanks to coasts and tourism, South West Water is the most expensive, and the water company has discovered that metering cuts consumption considerably and is popular with the thrifty (see DEFRA comparisons here)

SW Water average domestic consumption is 130 litres (0.13 cu metres) per person per day. Check out yours here .

But to get some sort of idea of how much fresh water our overall lifestyle is eating up we need to look at our water footprint, and thereï¿½s one calculator here.

According to Treehugger the U.S. are water hogs (surprise!) troughing down 2,500 cubic meters in comparison to the economical Chinese, who use around 700 cu metres per person per year .

How's it tricklin' for you folks?

.

Nick

Joined: 02 Nov 2004
Posts: 34535
Location: Hereford

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 10:31 am Post subject:

Personally, local, domestic use is not an issue. We have a well, the surface of which isn't far down. Our water is pumped to the roof, used, and drained into the back garden through tanks.

Aside from the electricity for pumping, I feel it's as small a footprint as I can manage, and I don't have any concerns. Am I right? For there to be a problem, the water table would have to fall many metres, I suspect.

Additionally, the calculator kills me for eating meat, but doesn't allow me to show that my meat mostly has the same drinking water source/recycling as me.

Last edited by Nick on Tue Mar 08, 11 10:38 am; edited 1 time in total

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9891
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 10:34 am Post subject:
no shortage of actual water here - I live in on of the rainiest towns in the UK. we collect rainwater for the sheep, pigs and hens, and for the greenhouses and other watering. so the only thoughts are on treated water. we plan on a rainwater/bath water loo flushing system one day

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 10:40 am Post subject:
I tend to look at it from a differ angle. Humanmanure is a too valuable resource to flush away so I'd like to get a composting toilet.

Nicky cigreen

Joined: 25 Jun 2007
Posts: 9891
Location: Devon, uk

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 10:46 am Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

I tend to look at it from a differ angle. Humanmanure is a too valuable resource to flush away so I'd like to get a composting toilet.

hmm good point - should do that too. cant see me wanting to give up on indoor proper loo altogether though. so perhaps i shall put both on the to do list

cassy

Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1047
Location: South West Scotland

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 10:59 am Post subject:

colour it green wrote:

cant see me wanting to give up on indoor proper loo altogether though.

It's not as bad as you might think it is. Honest.

And it doesn't have to be outdoors.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 11:14 am Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

I tend to look at it from a differ angle. Humanmanure is a too valuable resource to flush away so I'd like to get a composting toilet.

You are quite right in the next decade pretty much most sewage sludge will be composted and recycled or used to generate electricity. Zero 'waste'.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 2:22 pm Post subject:
Okay...as if said in other threads, im keen to go down the compost toilet route. can anyone give me links or prices and sites to visit....? I also want to do rainwater harvesting on a bigger scale than waterbutts. I dont know what the next step up is...can anyone help?

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 2:44 pm Post subject:

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

Okay...as if said in other threads, im keen to go down the compost toilet route. can anyone give me links or prices and sites to visit....?

go and visit Ginkotree, her compost loos are excellent and cope well with events as well as day to day domestic use.

Behemoth

Joined: 01 Dec 2004
Posts: 19023
Location: Leeds

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 2:45 pm Post subject:
TimNeo had a recent thread about rainwater harvesting with some useful links.

cassy

Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1047
Location: South West Scotland

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 2:53 pm Post subject:

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

im keen to go down the compost toilet route. can anyone give me links or prices and sites to visit....?

Have you seen the Humanure Handbook? It's still available to download (chapter by chapter) for free here. Chapter 6 shows a simple, cheap bucket system. Our system is based on this and on the advice Ginkotree kindly gave me about her system.

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

I also want to do rainwater harvesting on a bigger scale than waterbutts.

Smiths of the Forest of Dean sell recycled barrels suitable for larger water butts, if you want a basic ie. to hose pipe or watering can system.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 3:48 pm Post subject:
Id like to have a system where using roof runoff I can store enough to refill the ducks pool (which i change almost daily). Id also like to collect, filter and use to flush our main loo. We are on metered water, but there is something so wrong about using drinking water to flush toilets.

cassy

Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 1047
Location: South West Scotland

Posted: Tue Mar 08, 11 4:28 pm Post subject:

Would the recycled black tanks on this page be big enough (1520l)? You can connect them in series for more storage and you could use a hand pump to lift it to a header tank above the filter.

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

there is something so wrong about using drinking water to flush toilets.

I agree. And once you've stopped doing it at home, it feels really odd if you use a conventional loo.

Lorrainelovesplants

Joined: 13 Oct 2006
Posts: 6521
Location: Dordogne

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 11 4:30 am Post subject:
Thanks to all for the information..... I will make some enquiries and let you know how we get on.

Dumnonian

Joined: 27 Feb 2011
Posts: 67
Location: North Devon

Posted: Wed Mar 09, 11 7:48 am Post subject:

Lorrainelovesplants wrote:

Id like to have a system where using roof runoff I can store enough to refill the ducks pool (which i change almost daily). Id also like to collect, filter and use to flush our main loo.

We are on metered water, but there is something so wrong about using drinking water to flush toilets.

Totally!

Oooh, this has all gotten very toilet-centred - is it my fault for the poo poll?

I must admit to being quite shocked that 6 people will just flush. When we lived in a city our water was linked to next door's so we couldn't get water metering easily, but our bills were about ï¿½200 a year. Coming down to South West Water area we'd be paying ï¿½600 if we weren't on a meter,and we got one straight away.

We've now managed to get our bills down to about ï¿½100 a year (water and sewage) using only 15 - 20 units per year, or 20 -25 litres per person per day in the household - which is pretty much "third world" levels - yay!

We can't afford to just flush away expensively processed clean water - and that's the way it needs to be if we're to tackle the water issues we face as a society - you know - "sustainable ethical future" and all that

On the broader issue of overall water footprint, did anyone take a look at theirs?

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