One household at a time

The coming water shortage will call for conservation and low tech methods of collection. I have learned a lot about how to do pretty well without “city” or well water. We have relied on rain water collection for over twenty years.

Here are a few suggestions:

Gutter buildings to collect in a cistern. Gutters should be regularly cleaned and maintained by a reliable firm like Clean Pro Gutter Cleaning Colorado Springs CO to keep the water free from debris. Clearing gutters can be ideal for collecting water in a cistern but it also has other benefits including protecting against leaks and roof damage. You can find such services from the likes of this Toronto eavestrough cleaning company if you’re in need of them. Cisterns are sold at irrigation supplies and Tractor Supply Company. We use the 1600 gallon by the house. City and home owner association regulations may have to be challenged to allow for this and other changes like rooftop wind chargers.

Cistern water should be filtered for drinking and cooking.

It is great garden water. As food becomes more expensive and then less available, gardening, always a pleasant hobby, will be a valuable skill. Still playing in the dirt.

Always use a watering can. It is too easy to lay down a hose and walk off. i speak from experience. A watering can is good for your muscles and gives you an accurate measure of how much water each plant requires to thrive and produce. This will be our first year to try the Chapin Bucket irrigation method, designed for use in third world countries, it will probably work well here in dry west Texas. Look for drought tolerant varities and explore which natives are edible for growing or collection.

Growing in the furrow will save more water than the raised bed method, but I’ve had good luck with winter greens in a bed.

Don’t use chemical fertilizers as they deplete the soil. Compost everything from the kitchen. I give the meat scraps to the chickens and the cat.

Where you can, chickens will give you eggs, meat, and manure to grow vegetables. They eat grasshoppers and some other vegie eating bugs. Not much eats a squash bug, just have to plant early and beat them to the draw.

Use dishpans and wash your dishes with one pan of wash water and one pan of rinse water. Do not rinse under the faucet. Use a tablespoon of chlorine bleach in the rinse water. Throw the used water on the garden or a favored outside plant. Spread it around to avoid a build up of phosphates. I use leftover rinse water to rinse the food from pans and dishes from the next meal and throw it on the compost. The wash water stays bubbly longer without all the trash in it. My husband put a switch on the water heater. We turn it on an hour before we will need it. I find it quicker and more efficient to heat the water on the stove for dishes.

I would like to write a book about all the ways we can help ourselves that I have learned.I welcome any suggestions if this information seems valuable to any of you.