When I first got back to the States, I made a habit of indulgence. I would eat something I hadn't had for a while, because "I deserved it" and the same for every comfort of home.
Though I have been back in America for months now, I still am so excited and thankful for my hot showers. And when seemed that the length of the shower had been increasing over those first few months, I knew something needed to change. Long showers are not good because of the gas used to heat the water but also because of the water consumption itself. According the US Geological Service, old showers use up to 5 gallons of water per minute. With my personal average shower estimated at 15 minutes these days I am using 75 gallons of water per shower. If I only shower every other day, I will be using 300 gallons of water a week on showers alone. This isn't even considering water use in other places, such as laundry, dishes, drinking, flushing (4 gallons a flush, by the way), washing face or hands, and pets (USGS, 2015).
So when my Issues in Biodiversity Class challenged me to a lifestyle change for the betterment of nature, I chose the shower. I started out by timing my first two weeks of showers just to see what my average truly was. The average shower time was lower than expected at 11.82 minutes per shower. The next two weeks of the project marked my first action phase. I calculated half of the average of the first two weeks, and set a timer to alarm me during my showers. Half of the average made 5.91 so I just set the alarm for 6 minutes each time.
When I aware of the passage of 6 minutes it seemed that my shower time decreased. The average for the next two weeks was actually calculated to 8 minutes exactly. One again half was calculated and the alarm was set for 4 minutes for the next two weeks. Though I am not down with this current two week segment I am looking at an average of 5.48 minutes.
Total reduction to date is 6.34 minutes or a reduction of 31.7 gallons of water per shower. Which reduces the estimated water used per week on showering down to 126.8 gallons instead of 300. That is over a 50% decrease in water use all due to an alarm being set.
I think my little experiment is going quite well, and I don't plan to stop until the time naturally levels out. And hopefully by then, I will not even need and alarm anymore.
So, what to do with this info? Think about it, is there a small change that you feel you can make in your life? Something that won't be a big or difficult thing but over time will add up? Why not give it a shot?
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USGS (2015, December 21). Per capita water use: How much water do you use in your home? Retrieved January 31, 2016, from http://water.usgs.gov/edu/activity-percapita.php
