News

Want to save water in Vancouver? Stop showering every day

by Stephen Hui on July 14th, 2015 at 10:43 AM
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      With Level 3 drought conditions in Metro Vancouver, the region is "very dry". 

      Indeed, the local reservoirs are already down to 75 percent capacity, and there's a lot of summer left.

      Watering restrictions are in effect across the region, with sprinking limited to even-numbered addresses on Monday mornings and odd-numbered addresses on Thursday mornings.

      But certainly we can all do more to conserve water this summer. With that thought in mind, here's an excellent idea I heard on the weekend.

      Many of us take a shower or bath every day. But is that really necessary?

      According to Environment Canada, showers and baths are responsible for 35 percent of home water use. Every 10-minute shower may use 75 to 190 litres of water, depending on the quality of your shower head.

      So let's talk about voluntary shower restrictions. How would this work?

      People living at even-numbered addresses would shower on Mondays and Thursdays. Their neighbours at odd-numbered addresses would shower on Tuesdays and Fridays.

      Limiting your showers to twice a week won't just save water. Just think of all the wonderful things you could do with an extra 10 minutes a day.

      Who's up for the #ShowerSaving challenge? Let us know by posting a comment.

      Here's a few responses to this idea from folks on Twitter:

      Comments

      20 Comments

      great idea

      Jul 14, 2015 at 11:04am

      In fact, depending on your job and how much you perspire, most people could forego a shower for 3 or 4 days by wiping down their pits & groin with a cool facecloth twice a day. It's also good practice for the future when the Liberals sell all of our potable water to bottlers for mere pennies!!!!!

      Bad idea...

      Jul 14, 2015 at 11:24am

      Maybe the local politicians shouldn't be so concerned about transit. Maybe they should be concerned with growing our water resources?

      I will do my part

      Jul 14, 2015 at 11:30am

      To help ensure Nestlé doesn't suffer... in fact, from now until the restrictions are lifted I will only bathe using their bottled products. It's a small sacrifice.

      1,000,000 more Vancouverites

      Jul 14, 2015 at 11:32am

      Who plans for future water availability as the developers swim in their profits?

      How about no.

      Jul 14, 2015 at 11:37am

      Taking a shower is really necessary. I don't want to smell your pits anymore than I want to smell the gas from your ass. You obviously don't ride the bus ever. Even during rain season, it's rancid.

      How about turning off all the sprinklers at golf courses, lawns, fountains, water parks, wasteful industrial practices, car washes, hosing down sidewalks etc etc etc.

      The downfall of civilization is not far behind the absence of personal hygiene.

      BO

      Jul 14, 2015 at 11:39am

      Nah Thanks BO is rank.

      NicT

      Jul 14, 2015 at 11:52am

      A far more practical idea? Take shorter showers, and place buckets in the shower to recover grey water to re-use for the outdoors.

      Sarah Beuhler

      Jul 14, 2015 at 12:24pm

      Shut down the golf courses. Shut off the water to fracking projects. Invest in the infrastructure we need. Shorter showers are for saps - until we deal with industry's water wastage we can all go without showers forever and make only a tiny dent in the issue.

      I mean, we poop in drinking water here. It's nuts.

      @Sarah Beuhler

      Jul 14, 2015 at 12:35pm

      Why do you poop in your drinking water?

      James G

      Jul 14, 2015 at 1:28pm

      Adjusting to the far more severe California drought, we reserved the water from taking a shower by stopping up the drain. We then placed a bucket handy and re-used it to flush toilets, water plants, wash the patio down, etc. That beat stinking up public transit in San Francisco so why not do that here too?