the hunter, not the hunted

i heard on NEWS RADIO recently that we should FORGO the BATH and GIVE SHOWERS A GO!!!! my problem with this: even a FOUR MINUTE shower wastes more water than the average share bath.

as a child, i grew up sharing the bathwater with my mother, father and younger brother. we did this to, guess what..? SAVE WATER!!! even as a teenager i did this. of course, by then we had an order. it was either me or mum first, followed by the other two (cuz for some reason they made the water look like 1000 people had bathed in it!), but we still shared the water. in fact, it occurs in my family home as i type.

at my current home, it's not as prevelant. i will shower with a trickle of water coming out the head that is either too hot or too cold (no in between) with my 2 year old at my feet. quite often there will be the three of us showering at the same time. and, i've noticed a distinct difference on our rates bill because of this. however, i would still like to reduce this further.

with pots' refusal to install a water saving shower head, i'm forced to beat him with a stick start thinking of other ways to save water. at this point it's come to me showering every OTHER day when i'm not working. and even then, it's not until i'm almost ready leave. i only do the laundry once every 10 days or so. however, it means i could be doing up to three loads (and with a top loader that is expensive). but it's still an infrequent thing. we only flush the toilet with grey water we scoup into a bucket. and when that runs out, THEN we turn it on and let it fill so we can flush.

i know there are probably many other ways we could save water, but as we're significantly under the local water consumption level, i think we're doing spectacularly well. and i mean we're well below by HALF to almost a QUARTER of the local level. i'm not panicking yet, but i'm still panicking, if you know what i mean.

the current government's grasp on the environment hurts my brain to the point where i don't care to think about it anymore. i just do what i think is working (and with the face we've got no place at present to put a water tank of fifty, it's ALL we can do).

til next....
~Kits~ (been damning these water thoughts for months)

right-o. i'm currently reviewing the new level 5 water restricions that come into play on april 10.

explain to me why people are still permitted to water their gardens using town water? my neighbour is currently out and about with his hose because he qualifies as 'debilitated enough' to not be able to use a bucket, and with the new rules, it'll be because he's over 70. now, i want to see his proof of age related debilitation. seiously, if this guy can handle a fucking circular saw, he can carry a fucking water bucket! and why are they allowing a TWENTY MINUTE watering interval? why is it allowable for a person using a hose to be able to do so for TWENTY smegging MINUTES! don't they realise how much water that is going to waste?
but wait, it gets worse. if you've just built your garden you get to spray it for ONE HOUR! that's THREE TIMES MORE WATER BEING WASTED. are our councillers that fnordingly stupid? the short answer is: yes.
surely ALL external watering should be ruled out. this will help save a great deal more water. and thusly be a good thing. gardens aren't going to add that much value to your house. no. really, they're not.

i also believe that a ban on new swimming pools should be put in place. the pissy "do not use retuculated(town) water to fill new or renovated pool/spa" is horrorfyingly ridiculous. oh, but get this: EXISTING pools/spas can use said water during specified times. pools are a LUXURY, NOT a NECESSITY! prioritise your fucking lives morons.

what the hell kind of residential household consumes 8ooL or MORE per day? at least they're being required to submit a water usage audit, but seriously...

that's just the residential water usage plan i'm griping about. i've not got the time at this point to read the rest of the document, but it can be found here here. it's a PDF.

seriously. Victorians are in a significantly worse state of drought than we are here (100% compared to our pithy 64%), and they're restricion level is lower than ours. wanna know why? they are considerably stricter in their restriction requirements. when we were in level three, they had the same requirements in level 1 or 2. i think SA has the weakest requirements though. they've got places currently at level SEVEN, and they allegedly have NO WATER AT ALL!!!! is that where WE want to be?

surely there has to be a way of getting through to our council that this is ridiculous. from my brisk look at non-residential requirements, it's not that dissimilar to level four. get a clue people.

oh, and Peter (Beattie), if you seem to think that we can afford to give some of North Queensland's water to the Murray/Darling basin, then why don't we consider giving it to the South-East of Queensland first? i mean, there's plenty of it right? once we're all sorted out down here, with out water recycling plants et al, maybe THEN we can start thinking about giving it to them.*

til next....
~Kits~ (trying to teach and old dog new tricks)
*i'm not saying that the murray basin isn't important and shouldn't be saved. i'm saying, if we've got the water to provide, shouldn't HE be thinking of his own state first? i mean, if he's looking to continue as premier that is.