Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Day Seventy-Six - Gone To The Dogs

Repurposing All Our "Stale" Water

Continuing on my water conservation kick here, folks. Going to see if I can keep it up all week. Let's start with some 411. We've got a dog -- a big girl, weighing in at just under 100 pounds -- our black lab/husky mix "Oreo" goes through about three bowls of water per day. Each dish of water holds 4 cups of water, so that's .75 gallons of water per day, 5.25 gallons per week, 273 gallons per year. Now before you get on the phone to PETA because you think I'm going to stop watering the dog, just listen.

Every day, the kids and I fill up our reusable water bottles and head out on our merry way. They are usually refilled a couple times throughout the day and are taken to bed at night. Hubby also drinks water in the evenings and he usually leaves his half-full glass on the coffee table, where it leaves a nice white ring. So by the next morning I have four water cups with varying amounts of "stale water" in them. Of course, with our super-high American standards, there's no way we'd drink the stale water, so it gets dumped down the drain. Until today.

Fortunately for us, Oreo has much lower standards than we do. I mean seriously lower. I saw her eat dirt yesterday. Not because she was hungry, just because it was there and looked like it might be tasty. Anyhow, she now is the lucky recipient of all our stale water. She will also be receiving all the crazy ice cubes that leap forth from the ice dispenser, in what appears to be a last ditch effort to escape the inevitable.

All this water adds up too. It fills her bowl to the brim at least once, usually with enough left over to water the three houseplants I have somehow managed not to kill yet. This then cuts her bowl refilling by 1/3, reducing her total "new" water consumption to a half a gallon per day.


Savings:

Simply put: .25 gallons per day, 1.75 gallons per week, 7.5 gallons a month, 91 gallons per year. Good Doggy! If all 73 million American dog owners did that, we'd save over 6.5 BILLION gallons a year.


Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Much easier than cleaning those white rings off the coffee table...

7 comments:

Blue Girl, Red State said...

Preach the green gospel, sister! My dog, rest her soul, she passed at 18 nearly three years ago...got all of our water and stray ice, too. Now the stale water goes in the watering can for the plants because there is no way the kitties can keep up.

Glad to know you are out there living it! I try to, too. And look at it this way...today, we both found out that we're exponential! Yay! You think maybe this is what they mean by "Be the Change?"

Burbanmom said...

Blue Girl, this is EXACTLY what they mean by "Be The Change!". PS.. Is it wrong that I get most of my political news from The Daily Show and your blog? The other sources just seem so one-sided.... :-)

Blue Girl, Red State said...

Aw! Thanks! I just added you as a "Partner in Thought Crime"!

Anonymous said...

I am SO loving this! This blog should be the #1 read blog in the world presently!
Be the Change... and you do it with such style.
My dog gets the stale water, too. He thinks it's special. He also eats dirt.
http://www.lesliehawes.com/blackdog/

Burbanmom said...

Wow, Leslie, that is the absolute nicest thing anyone's ever said about me... EVER! Think I should get new friends?

Thanks for stopping by! I've been checking out your blog as well. Sounds like you're havin one hell of a road trip! Watch out for them Texans!

-Erin

Anonymous said...

Advice too late. I am now an honorary Texan. My ongoing saga will tell all...
I really mean it about this blog. It is a wonderful concept. You are actually DOING it, and taking great notes :) I was telling my husband about the blog last night, and I kept saying, "She measured how much her dog drank, then multiplied it times days in the year..."
I do stuff like that, but last time I was measuring Lucky Charms to make a point.
The blog has humor (your writing style is great), it has lots of facts, and lots of tips.
Like I said, EVERYBODY should be reading this.
You don't need new friends...recycle.

Burbanmom said...

You don't need new friends...recycle.

ROFL!!! :-)