Meet me at the Watercooler
I was shaving my legs this week - sitting on our outdoor mat, dipping my shaver into a steel bowl of soapy water - and had an out-of-body view take place. My mind went upwards and I saw myself sitting on the outdoor mat, shaver in bowl, and plucking off the hairs & then I saw myself shaving my legs at home, sitting in the shower while water is running over me, lathering up with shaving cream - how I have essentially shaved for 15 yrs of my life. I thought about how different this scene, here today, looks. And thought, what if everyone just shaves their legs using a bowl instead of a constantly running shower water? What would that do to our world?
Having spent the last couple of weeks moving across the Great Basin of Nevada & into the barren Utah land of high desert hoodoos and red sandstone plateaus, I have been thinking a lot about water - mostly, where the heck is it?? Touring through these interesting landscapes, being taught they were formed by water, but no water in site. Recently being re-routed out of California due to wildfires, the “where is water” was a constant thought in my mind. Hiking in 90F pelting heat, wanting nothing more than a glass of ice cold…water…with none to come by. Water. water. water. Drinking, growing, shaving, destructing, showering, carving.
Coming from Minnesota, the land of 72,999 lakes, water is more of a way of life than it is something we think of as “scarce”. It’s just not the word that’s associated with water in MN. But here, in these desserts, in these barren lands, in the midst of these fires, in the midst of this HEAT, it IS the word that is associated with water. These are the beautiful things that come with travel - that “p” word that can change our habits, our thinking, and our message (hint perspective hint).
So it was on my mind enough that I did some research. Here are some crazy facts about water and it’s consumption:
An average American uses 80 - 100 gallons of water / day.
An average American household uses 300 gallons of water / day according to the EPA’s research.
To meet basic hygiene and drinking needs, a conservative minimum amount of water / day / capita is 5 gallons. This number assures basic hygiene and food needs (according to the WHO). This number goes all of the way down to 2 gallons, by doing things like reducing shower days & laundry.
According to the WHO in June of 2019: 1 in 3 people globally do NOT have access to safe drinking water. “Some 2.2 billion people around the world do not have safely managed* drinking water services, 4.2 billion people do not have safely managed sanitation services, and 3 billion lack basic** hand-washing facilities.”
Every year, 297 000 children under 5 years die due to diarrhea linked to inadequate WASH.
I’m not trying to shame anyone, just spit some facts because this topic is not something I have ever been preached to about & I found it astonishing. I am as guilty as anyone to not paying attention to these little details of life, but having a limited supply of water in the bus (aka a 40 gallon tank), we have been forced to be conscious about consumption. I no longer shave my legs with a continuous flow or take 20 minute showers. We do dishes in an order that conserves and we shower with a start/stop method and two sets of hands to be most efficient. We stretch our time between laundromats as long as possible (see tips for maximizing the wearable life of clothes). The less water we use, the less often we have to worry about filling the tank. & on average based on 2 months on the road, we estimate our usage for 2 people and a dog to be about 7.5 gallons / day. Which, not counting the dog or laundry comes out to be ~4 gallons / person / day. And we are still smiling while taking those showers (proof below) - outdoor style with your partner scrubbing you down. ;)
0% bragging & 100% believing we were with the American average prior to this excursion. But until bus life, I have never had this sort of incentive to save water before (finding a potable source every other day vs finding a source every 4th, 5th, or even 6th day…). So I didn’t really change my habits around it, but then, we moved into a bus.
As often happens, you go somewhere, do something, meet someone, and get a perspective you never had before. But then what? You practice something and think about it for a couple weeks - you go home & then likely go back to our habits. But what if we don’t go back? I’m not saying we all need to shave our legs in the backyard with the garden bucket, but what if we turned the water OFF when our shampoo is setting? Or while we lathered the pits? What if we limited the shower time to 5 mins, except on Wednesdays because everyone needs a bath mid-week? What if we put a plug in the sink while we did the dishes? And wore a shirt twice before calling it “dirty”? Or did a quick feet rinse in the sink instead of a full shower? (if you are inspired by Jakers below)
According to the EPA, in the US, we are lucky to have some of the safest drinking water in the world. It’s a privilege. Of course, it’s obviously not necessarily “I saved a cup, you get a cup” as there are places like the Nevada desert that just may be better to not homestead, but could these small changes ripple into bigger changes and just maybe somewhere along the line help someone, or something, somewhere? We (in this case Americans and first world countries mostly) have a limited resource being used with an unlimited mindset. I still don’t know what you & I conserving would do to the world, but only good things, I imagine. Let’s stop being so American and start being responsible, contributing members of this beautiful Earth. <3
““Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.””
Let the movement commence,
yo’ girl Jen
PS) Ruby spent a few days in the shop in the past weeks. We met a mechanic that seemed to really know his #shtick - put a quick $750 of engine work in & we haven’t over-heated since!!! Stay tuned for my post that goes into detail on what was done.
