6.22.2009

hooray for h20...

we recently received notice from our water management company that as of july first, we'll no longer be subject to drought rates on our bill for usage deemed to be "excessive." it seems that we got enough rainfall to lift us out of the danger zone--a good thing. especially since our usage was deemed excessive from time to time, despite our wholehearted efforts to cut back (including minimal lawn watering and dropped rinse on the cloth diapers). it's nice to know that our water bill should be a bit more manageable this summer.

here's my thought though: when basically given the green light that the "drought is over," won't many people automatically become little more lax about how they use h2o? i mean, i consider myself fairly conservative on the water usage spectrum, but already we've been letting lucy play with the hose, and are filling up her bathtub a bit higher at night. we're also running the dishwasher approximately ever other day, and have added back that extra rinse into our cloth diaper washing routine. most of these things are purely coincidental--she's more active in the tub and needs more water. our cloth diapers were having some smell issues that stemmed from detergent residue. lucy is using plates, bowls, silverware and sippy cups--all of which take up lots of room in the dishwasher. but i do find myself thinking "well, if we're out of the "danger zone"... what harm will it do to give the flowers a bit more water? or let lucy toddle through the sprinklers? 

sending out extra charges reflected in a monthly statement is a very effective measure at getting people to cut back on their water usage. it worked for us--not because of the expense, necessarily; i think it worked because it made us feel extremely guilty about the amount of water that we were using vs. the amount that was deemed "enough" for a household of our size. 

if i'm already beginning to take a relaxed approach to my own water usage , what does it mean for the guy down the street who hoses off his driveway every day, drought or no drought?

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