Monday, January 11, 2010

Navy Showers- 3 gallons of water/shower

I have, what some may consider, a neurosis of green practices, but I'd like to take this time to quickly explain just one.  Navy showers.  According to Wiki the steps of a Navy showers are as follows:

"1. Turn on the water
2. Immediately wet the body
3. Turn off the water
4. Soap up and scrub
5. Turn the water back on and rinse off the soap
6. Turn off the water

The total time for the water being on is typically under two minutes."

And no, I haven't frozen to death.  But because I use shampoo, conditioner and soap, I repeat 3 and 4 once, conditioning then soaping in the same round.  My bottle of conditioner wants conditioner in my hair for an obscene 2 minutes, so might as well use that time to soap up.  

Why is this important?

Well the average shower head flow is 2.2 gallons/minute.  Average water pressure is 50 psi, and if I pretend I know what that means, then a 10 min shower uses around 14-16 gallons of water (see here).  Holy crap, that's a lot of water!  Well, if you take a navy shower, you save  11.8-12.8 gallons of water.  SAVE!  Amazing.  Then, if you want super extra bonus points, you cut upon old milk gallon jugs and collect the cold water as it warms up. 

Like so!  Future dish washing water.

Other uses for milk gallon jugs?   Filling them with water and putting them into your toilet tank for a simple hack (regular toilets use 3.5+ gallons of water per flush).  Fill with water and put it in your fridge or freezer (if it can fit).  Use as plant pots (poke holes in the bottom).  Recycle.  Of course, a post that was going to be one simple green tip, became 14.  Enjoy!

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