You know how bad the water situation is and how humans are making it worse, having grown up in the desert as a child. My awareness and fear threshold increased significantly throughout my undergraduate years when I realized that, yeah, I actually contribute to the issue. Like everyone else, I’m drinking too much water.
My life began to change when I took a permaculture class, which also taught me how I may contribute to the answer. I first learned about rainwater and greywater collection at that time, and I made the decision to give it a try as it examined how humans may work with natural systems.
In Tucson, Arizona’s desert town, we own two houses on an eighth of an acre. I’ve lived in the modest house next door for about thirty years, while my brother and his family live in the other. More rain falls on Tucson during the monsoon season than the half-million people who live here use in their houses for municipal water.
We simply drained away the excess water that was freely dropping from the sky, so you wouldn’t know it was there. Instead, we’re spending a ton of money and energy pumping water up 3,000 feet by importing it from the 300-mile-away Colorado River. It gets you to thinking: because rainwater is already here, why are we squandering all this energy and water?
I began modestly at first. I made raised paths around garden beds that were designed like basins. Rainwater that collects on the path seeps into the garden, aiding in the plants’ irrigation. After that, I installed a tank to catch rainwater from the house roof for the garden in the off-season. Fifteen years later, I installed a second rainwater tank to catch rainwater from an alternate roof. I then used that tank to supply my main domestic water supply for my shower and sink. Over the past 30 years, I have continued to gather rainwater, but I started to wonder if there was any way I could do it even more.
I began to consider using greywater, which is water that is rarely used for irrigation but is frequently used for air conditioners, sinks, showers, and baths. When you consider all the energy we use to purify water to that grade and transport it to your home, using virgin municipal water to irrigate your lawn seems like such a waste. It’s absurd that we just buried it in the ground.
My washing machine was where I started. The water is directed straight to the sewer by a drainpipe at the back. I made the decision to install an additional pipe and aim it at a tree in my yard. I could then use this greywater for watering by simply moving the drain line to the pipe that sends it to the tree every time I finished a load of laundry.
Additionally, air conditioners are an excellent way to recycle water. An enormous number of individuals use air conditioners during the hot and muggy monsoon season. The air conditioning units pull out all the moisture and humidity from our breathing and perspiration, and the condensate they produce is just thrown away and dumped into the sewer. The air conditioner condensate is being recycled and redirected for additional watering.
Because of the arrangement I’ve created over the previous 30 years, 95% of the water we currently utilize to irrigate our garden and landscaping comes from free on-site sources. About 11 inches of rain fall on average each year, and we collect 100,000 gallons of rainwater from street runoff.
This indicates that, as a family of four, we consume less than 20 gallons of municipal water per person per day, as opposed to the approximately 100 gallons that an individual would normally use. By using what is readily available on site, I’m saving a significant amount of money on my water bills.
It’s also far better for soil and plant life, which is another fantastic advantage. It’s possible that you’ve noticed that when you water your plants with rainwater, they frequently appear healthier and greener than when you use municipal water. This is because rainfall contains a variety of naturally occurring microorganisms that function as free fertilizer instead of chlorine.
And I just get so much happiness from collecting water. I rush outside as soon as it rains to see the water pouring into our rain gardens and tanks and to see the plants burst into colorful new growth, blossoms, and fruit.
I chuckle every time I take a shower or do laundry because I know that the water draining is going to our plants and the trees that keep me cool and shaded. I even laugh when I urinate in the shower because I know that my nitrogen-rich urine is being used as free fertilizer for our plants and soil, and the greywater from the shower dilutes and rinses the urine to make sure it doesn’t smell.
I also find that I like doing the dishes because I know that the fruit-bearing plants and trees directly outside the kitchen windows receive free irrigation from the kitchen sink drain water. I adore the sensation and response I receive when I work in harmony and helpful reciprocation with the living systems in my environment.
