The Niagara Conservation Water Saving EcoKit

As soon as the Water Conservation EcoKit arrived we opened the box to investigate the various goodies inside!

The Niagara Conservation EcoKit came packed with lots of amazing water saving ideas and devices;

• 1.5 GPM Earth® Massage high-efficiency showerhead
• 1.5 GPM dual-spray kitchen swivel aerator
• (2) 1.0 GPM bathroom aerators
• Toilet Tank Bank™
• Toilet water saver fill cycle diverter
• Plumber’s tape
• Leak detection tablets
• Shower Flow meter bag
• Water conservation wheel

Inside the Niagara Conservation Water Saving EcoKit

After looking through the collection of water saving devices we can see that the Niagara Conservation EcoKits are a perfect way to implement conservation solutions throughout the home. Each EcoKit™ includes a variety of their easy-to-install water conserving products. Each EcoKit™ also includes helpful, everyday tips for water conservation. These EcoKits would make wonderful promotional tools for any business and could also serve as educational tools to help children understand the importance of saving energy and water with simple but effective ways to do so.

We are planning to host a giveaway this month to giveaway two of these amazing Niagara Conservation EcoKits to two of our lucky readers so check back soon!

Over the next couple of weeks I will be installing the Toilet Tank Bank device to cut down on the amount of water used during each flush and I will be adding the two 1.0 gpm aerators to our bathroom sink faucets to save some extra water. The rest of the goodies in the kit will also be put to good use but I may have to install those next month, busy schedule etc…
You can find out more by visiting the Niagara Conservation Website

The River Thames in London

During the ‘Great Stink’ of 1858 so much raw sewerage and waste from tanners, slaughterhouses, and other polluting industries flowing into the Thames that the smell became literally unbearable.

The Great Stink of 1858

It worked, to a degree. The Great Stink was not repeated but the Thames remained heavily polluted. It was still a river of dead dogs, sewerage, and chemical soup. The salmon that were common in lower Thames up until the 1800s were gone by 1833 and they didn’t return after the sewers were built- they just moved the problem downstream. By the time of the Great Stink there were few or no fish left in the tidal Thames at all.

The fish markets of London either closed or were supplied with fish from the coast. Cholera epidemics were common and polluted water was to blame. Attempts were periodically made to clean up the river but they were never anything like enough to halt the decline of the lower Thames. By the second world war it was complete. There was not enough oxygen in the water to support life even if fish could survive the contamination. For a 30 mile stretch between Fulham and Tilbury it was a dead river.

The tide began to turn in 1961. In the 60s environmental consciousness was rising. Sewerage treatment facilities were expanded and improved and serious efforts were made to restrict the industrial effluent running into the Thames. In 1974, just 13 years after the program of water quality improvements began, a salmon was found in the lower Thames. After an absence of more than a century and a half, they came back.

Efforts to clean up the river have continued and these days more than 100 fish species call the Thames home, many of them in the lower reaches. Smelt, sole, and bass have all returned to the river and so have countless invertebrates, plants species, and water birds. Sometimes seals are even sighted in the London Thames.

While there are still problems with sewerage outflow and pollutants, the Thames clean-up has enjoyed outstanding success. In just a few decades it has taken a moving toxic sludge and turned it into a living, breathing watercourse with a working ecosystem. There is still a lot to be done, but the Thames example shows that no river is beyond saving if we’re willing to try hard enough.

Jess Spate lives in Wales not far from the River Taff, a watercourse with pollution problems of its own. One day she hopes it’ll be clean enough to go for a swim. She works as a sustainable business consultant for Fountain Spirit and Appalachian Outdoors, one of America’s best sources of outdoor and travel clothing .

On the other hand, using efficient washers may not be the walk in the park that most of us are expecting. Despite the efficiency of many washing machines, some of them might actually last as long if not treated correctly. Appliance repair is not as easy as it used to be. The modern parts and features of the new washers can cut the life span of many efficient washers.

Here are the top five contributors to washing machine damage and the solutions:

1. Using hot water

Hot water is pretty much indispensable to most of us when it comes to getting rid of the most stubborn dirt and grime in clothes and also in annihilating germs and bacteria.

But when hot water mixes with the minerals in tap water, lime can build up and damage the washer pump or cause clogging.

Also, hot water consumes a lot of energy. Heating and cooling devices tend to consume a lot of electricity.

The latest High Efficiency washers do not need hot water to remove stubborn stains, they can run on cold water cycles and allow the use of cold water laundry detergents. Just ensure that if you have a High Efficiency washer you use the laundry detergent marked with the HE symbol.

2. Skipping the maintenance

Most of us do not go the extra mile in maintaining our washers. Skipping the maintenance could be one of the things that can speed up the deterioration of your efficient washers.

Lime can also build up and lessen the efficiency of the machine by up to 12%. This can also cause the washer to break down in the middle of a cycle, thereby prompting the need to re-wash.

Many washers now come with a maintenance wash cycle where you can run the cycle with a cleaning tablet without any clothes inside and this removes any nasty lime build up, it also removes any odor causing bacteria!

3. Not unplugging the machine

We just rely on our circuit breaker. In fact, most of us just turn the washer off. But even appliances that are turned off can still consume electricity for as long as they are plugged in. In addition to that, this increases the risks of washer damage if a power surge or lightning storm causes abnormal spikes to be passed into the delicate washer electronics.

In the areas frequented by thunderstorms, it is ideal to unplug appliances to prevent them from being affected by the lightning and power cuts.

4. Not replacing the drain hose and the water hose

They get damaged easily. They usually last for about 2 years before some parts of the drain hose or the water hose require replacement. This can lead to a leaky washer problem.

5. Running small laundry loads frequently

While small laundry loads do not consume a lot of water, they still tend to consume a lot of energy. In fact, running small laundry loads generally consumes the same amount of energy as full laundry loads.

Also, running lots of small loads in the washer can be bad for the washer, it’s far better to fill your washer for each load, less laundry cycles equals less wear and tear on the mechanical components of your washer.

How To Maintain Your Washing Machine

Maintenance is the key in prolonging the life of your washer and making it perform better. The following are some of the maintenance tips you could try with your washer:

A. Run an empty hot water cycle once a week

Add a cup of distilled white vinegar. This will help descale the washer and get rid of molds as well. It will also make sure that your washer will smell great.

B. Try to put your small clothes in a mesh bag

This prevents them from getting stuck in the pump or clogging seals, etc. Also check the pockets of your clothes for loose objects such as coins and loose buttons.

C. Use only the right amount of detergent

Overuse of laundry detergent can be bad for the washer. This can confuse the functions of the machine because the extra foam and suds can damage the control board unit of the machine.

D. Unplug it when not in use

Unplugging your washer and dryer will eliminate phantom power loss and protect them during storms or power outages. Also turn the water source off to remove water pressure and prevent damage to the water hose.

This was a guest post by Zach Smith: Learn some tips on how to maintain your LG washer dryer combo. Get more insider tips on how to prolong your washer’s life at http://www.washingmachineadvisor.com.

1. Reel Lawn Mowers: What is that? Well reel lawn mowers are muscle-powered, no engine required. Using them not only conserves energy but also helps keep the air cleaner!

2. Cut Back on Lawn Space: If you have a large front or back yard, you might consider filling the space with more areas that do not require mowing, wildflower beds, rock gardens, native ornamental grass beds or a even a fish pond. Lawns require more watering than planting beds. In watering planting beds comprised of individual plants, you can target the watering better (using drip irrigation, for instance), thereby promoting water conservation.

3. Reducing Chemical Herbicides: Ralph Waldo Emerson once said ” What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have not yet been discovered” Indeed, one of the best chemical-free approaches to weed control may simply be to control our intolerance toward weeds. If we re-evaluate the weeds in our yards, seeing if maybe we might have overlooked the “virtue” here or there.

4. Edible Landscaping: Blueberry bushes, fruit trees, edible “weeds”. From berry bushes to Apple trees and even in the case of some weeds, incorporating edible plants in your yard can be one of the simplest and practical ways to be eco-friendly with your landscaping.

With just a little bit of work and some of these tips, I bet I could start making my yard and landscape even “Greener” than it was last spring. If you have some tips for a “Greener” yard, let us know.

Eco Adventures Canoe Trail

Eco Adventures Canoe Tours in McKinney, TX

3 Hour Canoe Trail Cost*:

* $30 for members
* $40 for non-members

You can find out more on their website;
http://www.heardmuseum.org/attractions/Eco-Adventures.asp

Map & Directions:

View Larger Map

From our days of sailing we were pretty aware of the ease and practicality of collecting rain for our needs. On some islands where the only water comes from desalination systems water can be nearly as expensive as diesel fuel.

When we moved to Luna Azul we installed a rain collection system and were amazed, in an area that only gets 17 inches of annual rainfall, how much of our needs could be met from the rain.

In case you have never calculated how much water you are letting get away, here is the simple formula. I will use our 30 ft by 30 ft barn as an example. Converting ft to inches= 360″x360″=129,600 sq inches. So if it rains for one hour at 1″/hr you have 129, 600 cu inches divided by 231 cu in / gallon = 561 gallons of water. In one hour!!!

Probably the hardest thing to comprehend how many gallons a few square feet of roof can gather.   Grab a 12 ” ruler.  Turn it left and right, up and down and them away from you. There’s your cubic ft.   Can you imagine being able to put 7.5 one gallon gas cans in that space?  Well you absolutely can.  Warning:  If you try this at home,  be careful cutting that eighth gas can in half   This may seem like a tedious exercise but it helps you understand how much rain you can gather from even a small roof.

We used some food grade 50 gallon drums to collect the water  to supplement the gray water system in the garden.   In the summer we watered almost every day and it seemed like it hardly ever rained but we always had water for the garden. It’s magic.

On a lighter note, there is much conversation and speculation on the future scarcity and extreme cost of water. Many of last decades oil speculators are now buying up water rights. This may be a good time to start incorporating rain collection into your building plans and projects.

Rain water may end up being more than just something Grandma catches to wash her hair.

There are some tricks for storage and for not collecting dust and dirt.  I would be more than happy to answer any questions.

“It rained 17 inches in these parts last year and I was here the day it rained.”

The picture was taken on “The Day.” Our gray water system at Luna Azul did a very nice job of keeping a portion of the garden moist. We designed it to support three rows of vegetables like tomatoes, lettuce and peppers. It is recommended that gray water not be used for plants, like turnips, carrots or potatoes that produce the food in direct contact with the water. The water from the kitchen sink(no garbage disposal), lavatory, shower and washing machine went into the gray water system.

Beginning at the house you can see where the system comes together and goes underground. We used 2″ schedule 4o pvc and at each fixture included a vent. The diagonal pipe is coming over from the washing machine and the red handle you see is on a ball valve to a garden hose connection which would allow you to have drainage if the main system was not flowing. We never had to use it but you can imagine that if the conditions in the first photo persisted, the system in the garden might fill up and without the emergency valve you would be in a fix. From the house we ran a 4″ PVC pipe at a 1/4″/ft slope (2%) to a special fitting that allows you to switch from regular PVC pipe to french drain or perforated PVC pipe. We wrapped this quite tightly with filter fabric (geotextile fabric) designed to allow water to flow out of the pipes but not let dirt or critters into the system. It is not good to look down into the drain and have who-knows-what looking back at you. We placed the pipe on concrete blocks to create more of a reservoir. When we were through we just carefully backfilled the same dirt that we had dug out. If there is too much clay in the dirt I would recommend that you mix some sand in with it so the water will disperse through the soil. Besides if there is no sand in the soil the lettuce is not nearly as crunchy.

Ya gotta have some minerals in your diet, right! So that was our gray water system. It worked like a charm. Between it and our rain water collection system (later) y wait really cut down on the amount of watering we had to do. Water is pretty precious in those parts and it seemed a shame to waste any. You never know how long you are going to have to wait for another “That Day”. And no, the tomatoes did not taste like Tide or Zest either. If you have any questions feel free to ask. ~ Jim

This picture of me is included to show an unfortunately unforgettable example just how practical the strategies described in future posts to this column will be.  Real Problem ~ Solution stuff. “P ~ S”

In this case, the problem  was my fear of Sharks.  My job as chief hunter (Karen was chief gatherer) on our Sailing expedition forced me into the water almost daily.   My real instinct was to follow the plan endorsed by one of our cruising companions who claimed he had a deal with sharks, “If the sharks would agree to stay out of the Pubs he would promise to stay out of the water.”

Having seen many tearful interviews in which the victims, or their next of kin,  stated that the shark must have mistaken them, in their black wet suit, for a Harbor Seal or Walrus, I resolved to make sure that I did not – by proportion or color – resemble any standard selection on  “The Bull Shark Catch-of-the Day Menu.”

“P ~ S”.   “Problem ~ Solution”  Still alive and not so much as a close call.

In our sailing days we fitted out both of our boats with wind power and solar power and the deep cycle batteries to store all that we generated.  In future posts we will discuss those systems and power conservation strategies .  We even had a wind powered self-steering system to drive for us on long passages.

After our sailing days we moved to a totally undeveloped 10 acres situated 2 hours west of San Antonio Texas.  There we designed a super energy efficient  home, using passive solar principles and SIP Panels, that included a solar hot water outside shower, grey water system, tankless propane water heater, rain water capture system and a composting toilet.  We did all of the work ourselves.

Like on our boats, through research,  careful design and installation,  our homestead was very successful.  The climate in that area is desert-like. It gets over 100 degrees for days at a time and then down into the teens.  And yet, we never had an electrical bill over $100. and never felt like we were camping out.

Future posts will cover these green adventures and more.

See you then,

Jim