Every Drop Counts

Posted on September 29, 2018

This week we launched #EveryActionCounts, where we've been discussing water saving. I don't know about you, but I certainly didn't understand why it was so important to save water before I started working with Green Calgary, but now I have adopted many of these very easy tips that I'll share below.

First to the why, though. Here are my top three reasons - maybe they're different from your top three, so please feel free to share!

A) Keeping water out of the treatment plant saves us money and electricity.
B) Water is very inexpensive now, but it can only go up (just look at water costs elsewhere in the world), so I'd rather be prepared.
C) Water is precious and it seems disrespectful to spend it frivolously.

These are certainly not the only, or even best, reasons to save water. But no matter why you want to save water, here are some easy ways to make a big impact.

1. I put water aerators on all my faucets.
2. I limit myself to a 5 minute shower.
3. I've installed some low-flow toilets and shower heads, to reduce water use.
4. I save up dirty laundry until I have enough for a full load.
5. I turn off the tap when I'm brushing my teeth, washing my hands, or so on.

Since the start of the Every Action Counts campaign, I've also taken Ted Henley's tip to heart and now we collect the water from rinsing our fruit and veggies at home to water our house plants.

Hopefully, you'll find some of these tips helpful! We've shared more on our social feed this week, too. I encourage you to watch Ted's video below, and to visit EveryActionCounts.cato see more videos about many green topics. We'd love if you let us know how you save water! Use the hashtag #EveryActionCounts when you send us a post on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Thank you!

Lex van der Raadt
Communications & Community Engagement
Green Calgary