By Ruth Berkowitz. June 16, 2015. Our family of four spent three years sailing from San Francisco to Australia. It taught us how to live with less. We learned to use fresh water carefully. Sometimes we would be out at sea–far from a marina with its unlimited fresh water. To refill our tanks we had to convert saltwater to freshwater, a process that took about an hour and required tapping into our energy supply either our solar panels or generator.
It made us value freshwater.
Showers became a luxury, something we enjoyed only three days or so. We took three minute ‘military showers’ and turned off the spigot to lather hair and body. We turned off the water while brushing teeth and washing our faces; cleaned dirty dishes using minimal freshwater; and flushed the toilet with salt water.
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Sometimes we collected rainwater to bolster our supply. We checked our water gauge constantly to keep track of how much we had stored. Conserving water and electricity became a habit, a way of life.
After returning to life on land in 2011, I would cringe watching people waste what, to me, was precious water and electricity. Faucets flowing full blast, sprinklers spraying for hours, people leaving lights on – few seemed to care.
Gradually I, too, began indulging in daily long showers, leaving the spigot on while washing dishes and allowing the sprinklers in my yard to flow for hours. I forgot to switch off lights. I took luxurious baths in our 75 gallon bathtub. How quickly I reverted to careless ways.
Now I, and all of us, must apply the lessons our family had to learn at sea. Like California, the Gorge is facing a severe drought. Mt. Hood’s snowpack is only 23 percent of normal levels. Mt. Defiance never had snow. Without adequate snowmelt to fill our reservoirs and streams, salmon and farmers will suffer.
Last week, our family received a Drought Emergency letter from East Fork Irrigation District, our irrigation provider. The letter encouraged us patrons to voluntarily reduce water use by 25 percent and provided water saving tips such as: watering early in the morning or late at night and using low flow sprinklers. I wonder if their campaign will succeed. Will people voluntarily reduce consumption?
A recent New York Times article, How to Get People to Pitch In, advocated another approach. The four authors claim that rewarding consumers with cash or T-shirts for reducing their water consumption is not nearly as successful as running a pledge campaign where people proudly place a yard sign that might say: ‘My lawn is brown because I took a pledge to help Oregon. Join me.’
A pledge might change some people’s behavior and East Fork Irrigation’s conservation tips may as well. But, I don’t think Oregonians, long used to rain, will be serious about conserving water until they feel the pinch of a finite supply. Freshwater is liquid gold.
What if each household was issued a set supply of water as if they were living on a boat at sea, and they had a gauge to measure the amount of water used? U.S. Geological Survey says Americans use 80 to 100 gallons per person per day. To fulfill a 25 percent reduction, each person would be allocated 60 to 75 gallons.
Households could check their use with a monitor. Perhaps there could be individual gauges on the water faucets. When the allocated amount is used up, the water gets shut off, like it did when the tanks on our boat ran dry. Such keen awareness might make us use water efficiently. Maybe households would capture rainwater or figure out ways to reuse their water. It might change our mindset before the tanks run dry.
