For those looking to save water, an easy way can be had at Home Depot (couldn't find such a thing anywhere else) for about 5 bucks: it's a small valve that you attach in between the showerhead and the pipe coming out from the wall that allows you to turn the water to a trickle (thus keeping your heat settings) while showering. I estimate that this has cut my husband's use of shower water by about 2/3 and mine by about half (my long hair is the difference). This may reveal my geekish tendencies, but I like to count the seconds that I have the valve in the off position, then multiply the minutes by the 2.5 gpms that my showerhead puts out to arrive at a satisfying estimate of gallons saved. :) I also found .7 gpm faucet aerators there. It takes awhile to fill a pot with one of these, so I don't have it on my kitchen sink, but for the bathroom it puts out a perfectly adequate stream. Another note for the "why save water" thread -- for those with wells -- this summer our well (120 feet deep, in Brooktondale, where water seems to practically spurt out of the ground all over the place) could not keep up with our household's demand (which is about half the average, according to our well guy, Jay Payton. We already had low-flow toilets, low-flow showers, front loading washer, etc. Oh yeah, and we don't shower all that often either!). What we decided to do about it is a long and expensive story, but Jay, a third-generation well driller whom I guess to be around 60, said this was the worst summer he could remember for people's wells "running dry." (A well doesn't really run "dry," it just doesn't put out enough water to meet demand at any given time, like when you decide to do laundry and flush the toilet at the same time.) His explanation: a too-dry winter followed by a too-quick spring (i.e. the snow cover melted off into the creeks rather than be slowly absorbed into the ground) followed by a too-dry summer. This pattern ain't likely to get any better, so anyone using a well would be wise to do whatever they can to lower their water demands. -Kristie
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