An ingenious idea, this loo-top sink saves water wastage by redirecting some of the liquid through a chrome gooseneck spigot. It’ll fit on most standard toilets and even has a soap-dish. Here is a link to a TreeHugger article on Toilet-Lid sinks that may be of interest as well.
The sink is available for $119.00 from Real Goods.
Pure distilled water is great, but most devices need electricity to produce it. This Non-Electric Water Distiller
Available for $369.00 from Amazon
Everyone wants to have a luxury shower but who wants to waste the water or spend too much money? Now you can conserve water while at the same time enjoying a great shower with the Oxygenics Showerhead. This chrome plated showerhead is easy to install and will conserve water. Unlike other low flow showerheads that conserve water, the Oxygenics Showerhead will actually give you a better shower than an old fashioned high flow showerhead. The budget look are 16 ports that circulate air through the showerhead to give you a shower that will make you feel as though you are enjoying a spa shower.
$22.99 at SmartHome
Recycled Rubber Mulch Mat – 3 ft x 20 ft $229.99 at Conservastore.com
A great way to save water for your garden and yard as well as help eliminate weed growth is to try this recycled rubber mulch pad. It is an inch thick and can be cut with a utility knife. It should last up to five years with ordinary use. The roll weighs 180 lbs so shipping costs may be a consideration. If you order 3 or more they will give you a break of some sort. From the photo on their website, it has a naturalistic brownish coloration that shouldn’t be too jarring in the garden, but personally – unless I had a huge space in my yard or garden that I wanted to cover, I wouldn’t bother with it as I prefer the look of a natural mulch. But it would make sense for many other situations where you didn’t want to conserve water and eliminate weeds.
Our move from New England to Southern California brings the issue of water usage to the forefront. Water conservation in Boston isn’t nearly the issue it is here in San Diego. It is amazing that so many here take for granted the diminishing source of water that is brought from the Colorado river 250 miles away. The politics of water is huge and too complex to discuss here but an excellent and fascinating read on the subject is Cadillac Desert: The American West and Its Disappearing Water, Revised Edition by Marc Reisner from Amazon
Southern California is in a near-drought state after 1 year of record low rains so we are looking into ways to save on water use. It amazes me how much water is used and then “discarded” by simply washing your hands, showering, clothes or dishwashing. Naturally you want to think about ways to reuse this “greywater”, if more people were able to reuse this “greywater” for flushing toilets and/or watering lawns and gardens it would result in a significant savings of water.
For home owners with the money available to install new rewater systems in their home there exists some terrific but pricy solutions, the ReWater system captures, filters and reuses shower, tub, bathroom sink, and laundry water, 50% of all water used inside a residence. This can then be ReWater’s under or above ground drip irrigation systems which are claimed to be at least 30% and up to 60% more efficient than sprinklers. The pricing will vary significantly on several factors but you could expect to pay several thousand for both the filter and irrigation systems.
Sadly, we don’t have that kind of cash and only rent our place. But there are still some options that range from free to affordable. One approach, offered by GreyWater Guerrillas shows how to simply remove the piping under your sink and let it drain into a bucket that you can then pour into your toilet tank to flush with (or water plants, etc) They also put out a book “Dam Nation Dispatches from the Water Underground” that they discuss on their website and have many other resources on water issues.
The bucket under the sink definitely won’t fly with my wife although my dog is cool with it. A more elegant solution that does somewhat the same thing is the Aqus, that helps you capture and reuse sink water to flush toilets. They claim their technology can save 10 – 20 gallons of water a day. The Ecogeek blog has a good article about this system here.
Another possibility to save on bathroom water use is offered from Caroma, an Australian toilet maker’s Profile toilet suite that directly convert your toilet tank into a sink. A more basic and affordable possibility is the Toilet Lid Sink from Peddler’s Wagon for only $89.00.
Treehugger’s excellent article, “How to Green Your Water” is another great place for more info on saving water at home.
