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| the style of rain barrel that we bought 20 years ago -- functional |
After posting earlier this week about all of the rainfall in my area this month, I realized that in many areas rainfall is not nearly so plentiful. But beyond the here and now, Seattle summers are usually quite dry. July, August, and September see very little rainfall here. These are just the months that my garden needs water to support vegetable growth the most. I would imagine that for those of you who are also keeping a vegetable garden that this is a concern for you, too.
Municipal water is expensive just about everywhere. And it continues to become even more expensive with each passing year. About 10 years ago, my district needed to improve infrastructure to accommodate all of the new housing going in. To pay for this, our billing rate increased significantly. Then, a few years ago, the district went onto a tiered billing plan. If we use just a little water, we get billed at the lowest rate. (This entire time, we have never used the amount in that lowest tier.) If we use a moderate amount, we get billed at a higher rate. And if, as it is for us, we use a higher amount of water each month, we get billed at the highest rate. Tiered billing sometimes seems unfair to the family that is using their yard to grow some of their food supply. But it is what it is, so I just deal with it and try to conserve.
I know that my situation is not unique. Water is becoming one of the more challenging bills for many households. A 2017 study suggests that about 10% of households have difficulty paying their water bills. This is anticipated to increase to as much as 30% in the next few years. [Mack, E., Wrase, S. (2017). A Burgeoning Crisis?] I expect that all of us wish our water bills were less.
Today, I thought we could share some of our best water-saving tips to help us get through the dry months ahead. I'be already mentioned a few things we do to conserve water, here. But I'll list them again. Please add your tips in the comments.
- We have two 75-gallon rain barrels. I start the planting season with full barrels and typically run out of water in early to mid-July. This year, the rain barrels got refilled this past week -- water may last till mid-July.
- I save rinse water from vegetables and do one of three things: top up the nearest rain barrel, fill a watering can to use later, or dump on one of the deck planters.
- I use soaker hoses in the blueberries and rhubarb from late June through August. Less water is wasted on pathways with soaker hoses than using a sprinkler in this area of our yard.
