Water, water everywhere

Monday, 4:01 pm

By Kate

Jun

04

2007

Had to take the lad to work an hour or so ago. The trip out there was rather wet. Rain has been falling all day, but has now reached torrential downpour status. There are ponds on the roads. Ones that were up to the middle of my hubcaps. They required some gentle maneuvering. I noted that there were a few larger vehicles stalled out along the way. When I started seeing manhole covers askew with water gushing up out of the ground, I kinda figured that was a sure sign we’ve had too much rain too fast. The rivers and streams are also quite swollen. Should be fun times around here for the next day or so.

Despite the horrid dreadful awful weather, there were people out on the golf course today. They are insane.

On the way home, I passed by a hardware store and decided to stop in. I wanted a new shower head that doesn’t cause me to hyperventilate every time it runs. I have the standard 2.5 gallons per minute shower head that is considered to be a water saving one. Since we have high water pressure here, there is no reason not go with a lower flow shower head...something in the 1.5 gallons per minute range with an on/off button. I had one in a former house and it worked very well.

I finally found my water meter in the basement. That’s not something I’ve paid any attention to in the 14 years I’ve lived here. Think of that. I had to hunt for it last night. It measures water in cubic feet. One cubic foot equals 7.481 gallons. Since I read the meter last night (after my shower...cheating, I know...), I’ve filled the coffee pot, we have flushed the toilet once, and the lad has taken a 6 minute shower. Water used: 3 cubic feet or 22 gallons. The toilet uses 7 gallons per flush. Well, 6.5 gallons since I’ve plunked a half gallon water-filled milk bottle in the tank. That seems a little excessive, doesn’t it? Seven gallons of water to flush away pee? Let’s not be delicate about it. That’s just crazy. I somehow do not think that 10 gallons of water per person per day is an achievable goal. But I’ll keep whacking away at it...adding a new low flow toilet to my list.

Anyway. I pulled into the hardware store and navigated the pond leading to their front door...it was over my ankles. Good thing I had my snazzy pink garden clogs on. My jeans were sopping wet, though. For all that fuss and bother, the store didn’t have any water saving shower heads. Not.A.One. I inquired and they said they’d carried a few 2.5 gal/min shower heads, but they were out and, frankly, they weren’t all that popular. What seems to be really popular around here are the multi armed shower heads that give you streams of water from 3 sides. Eeeegads.

Next time I’m in the Lowe’s vicinity, I’ll stop in there.

It seemed a bit ironic...I am obsessing about wasting water in the house while free water is falling outside, by the hundreds of gallons, and causing general mayhem. Quite a lot of it, in this neck of the woods, will probably wind up in the ocean in a few hours, too.