there are a few daily activities that people take more pleasure in than a nice, long, relaxing shower. i am without a doubt one of those people. but i recently found out just how much water i was wasting while standing there styling my hair with shampoo and singing 90s hits. standard showerheads use about 2.5 gallons per minute and some older ones use almost 5 gpm!
save our water, and save yourself some money.
check out these 8 things you should and shouldn’t do while you’re taking a shower.
do
take a morning power shower. a short five-minute morning shower just to wake you up is a perfect way to start the day. (if you really want a wake up jolt, just before getting out turn the water to cold for a few seconds.)
don’t
rig up your showerhead to double as a microphone. as awesome of an idea as this may seem at first, it leads to longer showers. a few years back, australians were encouraged to stop singing in the shower in an attempt to conserve water.
do
get yourself a low flow showerhead. you can save up to 15 gallons of water during a 10-minute shower.
don’t
definitely don’t do this.
do
take a navy shower. when you’re soaping up make sure to turn the water off and then turn it back on to rinse off.
don’t
don’t let the water go to waste while it is heating up. capture the cold water in a bucket and use it for other things around the garden.
do
find a shower buddy. nothing could be cuter than having a little friend with you in the shower.
don’t
don’t take baths. it generally takes about 70 gallons to fill a bathtub with water. it also leaves you powerless against an evil marmot being thrown in the tub with you. even if you are the dude.
how do you conserve water in your day to day routine? willing to shorten your shower, or shower with a friend? let us know in the comments.
leor reef and matt seedorff are seniors at the george washington university majoring in journalism.
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]]>most people don’t know that when you buy a bottle of water, the water accounts for only about $0.04 of the total cost. the rest of the cost of bottled water goes towards the packaging and transportation fees.
statistics show that coke — which produces the bottled water dasani — and pepsi — which produces aquafina — are responsible for 24 percent of u.s. bottled water purchases. these companies also allegedly just fill their extremely well marketed bottles with the very water we can get for free each day — tap water.
and it’s not just these brands that are accused of such travesties, these just so happen to be the big names. many brands including the most popular, poland spring, are believed to just be tap water hiding in a shiny plastic costume.
americans consume roughly 90 bottles a year per person. that translates to 28 billion water bottles per year as a nation which costs roughly $15 billion out of american’s pockets and only 24 percent of these actually get recycled.
approximately 8 out of every 10 plastic water bottles purchased ends up in a landfill after use and only about 13 percent are recycled. many of these bottles can be reused at least a few more times without any risk to health, however due to convenience and the availability of water in the u.s. this rarely happens.
the leading cause for purchasing bottled water is that people are so often in a rush and don’t think about carrying a re-usable water bottle. next time, take a little extra time before running out the door and try carrying something with you that will keep the money in your pocket and the plastic out of the landfills.
make a change. #thinkfwd.
-jen wolfe & melissa turley
looking to keep track of team thinkfwd?
team thinkfwd is a group of fifteen students from frank sesno’s class at the george washington university. see all of their videos here: visit the member page
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