I think most people in the United States take fresh water for granted. It’s readily available in every building, it’s clean and it can be used pretty much without restriction, from taking a long shower to washing clothes to hosing down the sidewalk or just letting it run down the drain while we brush our teeth or turn away from the faucet in the kitchen. Not to mention using a whole toilet-tank full of water to flush away a few ounces of pee (yes, I said pee). Americans use a lot of water and they don’t really pay much attention to conserving it. I believe that, like thoughtless use of fuel and energy, thoughtless use of water is not sustainable and is going to need to stop sooner rather than later.

I don’t pretend to understand all the complexities of water use, water distribution and water conservation, but it seems to me that there are some easy ways to use less water. I limit my water usage by turning off the sink when I’m brushing my teeth, only running the dishwasher (yikes, what a luxury a dishwasher actually is!) when there’s a full load, only doing full loads of laundry, sweeping the sidewalk instead of hosing it (I run the hose sparingly when someone lets their dog pee all over the front sidewalk) and only flushing the toilet once in the morning even if there have been multiple trips to the bathroom at night. Flushing the toilet less saves a ton of water so I do this during the day when I’m home alone or with someone who’s also comfortable with this.

Taking showers together with someone else is a great way to use less water (I happen to think it’s also enjoyable!). Using a single bucket of water and a brush to clean things (like cars) saves a lot of water over using a running hose.

Some larger-scale water saving ideas include rooftop rainwater collection, gray water reclaimation and landscaping that uses low-water plants instead of water-wasteful grass lawns (personally I find that varied plantings look so much better than lawns anyway!).

I’ve written about saving water before, in the context of “dual flush toilets” that save water by using different amounts to flush “number one” and “number two” (I use the word “pee” there too!).

What prompted me to write this was coming across the WATER Institute (Watershed Advocacy, Training, Education, & Research) and their publication “Basins Of Relations: A Citizen’s Guide to Protecting and Restoring Our Watersheds.”

Their organization is dedicated to educating the public about water use and about how important the overall health of watersheds is to communities:

In 2004 the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC) established the WATER Institute (Watershed Advocacy, Training, Education, & Research) to promote understanding of the importance of healthy watersheds to healthy communities. Building upon OAEC”™s many years of work to protect Coastal California”™s watersheds, the WATER Institute concentrates on four interrelated and equally strong program components: advocacy and policy development; training and support; education and demonstration; and research.

The WATER Institute staff includes Director Brock Dolman, Associate Director Kate Lundquist, Research Director Jim Coleman and Salmon Safe Pesticide Coordinator Viviana Coloma.

The WATER Institute continues to publish and educate about “Conservation Hydrology,” an applied science being pioneered by OAEC and characterized by the following key concepts:

• Human development decisions must be based on a new “rehydration model” instead of the current “dehydration model.”
• All development must safeguard the health of watersheds and the availability of clean water.
• Land-use management strategies must thoroughly analyze the impact of human activities on the hydrologic cycle, and how these activities affect species, community and ecosystem dynamics.
• Democratic, regionally controlled decision-making processes are essential for the protection of vigorous ecosystems and diverse, resilient hydrological systems.

At local, regional and global levels, we hear ever-increasing demands for ample supplies of high quality water. In response, we must develop accurate means of evaluating the amount of water available for both human appropriation and for the needs of all other life forms and ecosystems. We must defend the perspective that water is common to us all, and we must oppose its privatization.

Asserting that it is “better to be safe than thirsty,” the WATER Institute advocates the use of the Precautionary Principle in decisions about water-use policy. The burden of proof must be on water users to show that their proposed use of our common water can be sustained without damage to the hydrologic cycle. For example, will the new water use adversely affect the infiltration, runoff, creek flows, evaporation, precipitation, condensation, availability, or purity of local water?

The WATER Institute”™s initial research project is to better understand the hydrological cycle on the very land and water where we live and work at OAEC. We have installed a computerized weather station and a groundwater well-monitoring system to record water levels and characterize the relationship between surface water and groundwater at the OAEC site.

This monitoring will provide data to develop an OAEC “water budget,” and will help determine our long-term conservation hydrology plan. For instance, a conservation hydrology strategy for OAEC might include increasing the recharge of our groundwater and enhancing potable water quality by slowing surface water runoff and increasing infiltration. This research will be useful as a model for larger projects in the Dutch Bill Creek Watershed and the Russian River Basin. Numerous water policy and educational opportunities will likely flow from this baseline research.

This is great stuff. To find out more or to support the WATER Institute, visit http://www.oaecwater.org/ or contact them as listed here:

For more information about OAEC”™s WATER Institute,
contact Brock Dolman (707) 874-1557 ext. 206, brock@oaec.org , Kate Lundquist (707) 874-1557 ext. 218, kate@oaec.org or Jim Coleman (707) 874-1557 ext. 221, jim@oaec.org .