If you’re paying attention to current events, then you’ll know that California is currently undergoing one of its worst droughts in history. Browsing Whole Foods recently, I couldn’t find spinach anywhere. I kindly asked an employee, and she told me that they were having trouble getting in enough supply because of the droughts in California. Up until this point, the events had felt far removed from my East Coast life, but now the truth started to set in.
The problem with droughts is that you don’t know you’re in one until the effects hit. The California government, for the first time ever, is putting mandates in place to regulate citizens’ water use. It’s really about what you do leading up to a drought, but they want to ensure future safety. What California has come to discover, and what we can all take a lesson from, is that their water consumption was outrageously over the top, impractical, and irresponsible.
There are so many ways to conserve water. You can set out rain barrels to collect water for your garden, turn the faucet off when you’re brushing your teeth, or shorten the time you spend showering; but today, I want to address another means that I recently discovered and am absolutely infatuated with.
It has to do with your toilet. Yup. You may not know it, but these little culprits are the #1 water consumers in your home. If you have a toilet made between 1980-1994, then your home uses an average of 11,000 gallons of water each year. How insane is that?
Newer constructions are often outfitted with efficient models, but I beg to say that most of us don’t have one of those. Each time we flush, our toilet unnecessarily wastes gallons of water and it’s so easy to avoid. All you have to do is lift up the back lid and set in something to displace the water. This can be an old milk jug filled with water, a big rock… you name it. I recently discovered an amazing product called… Drop-A-Brick that gets the job done while also donating proceeds back to California drought relief. Here’s a little line from their website that really hits home, “Drop-A-Brick conserves about half a gallon per flush – an average of 3,000 gallons a year for the average household. If everyone in California used one, the state would save 6 billion gallons in just 90 days – enough water for 32 million people to drink for an entire year.”
Whether you decide to purchase a Drop-A-Brick, or simply place a homemade object in the back of your toilet, you’ll be doing the world a huge favor. This is by far one of the easiest and most efficient ways to conserve water in your home.
P.S. if you have a minute to watch the Drop-A-Brick promo video, I highly suggest it ;)
Follow Naomi on Instagram @NumieAbbot
Check out Naomi’s blog Numie Abbot
This is amazing. Goin’ to fetch a brick now!
I truly thought everybody would do this. I always have a large filled with water bottle inside it. Thanks for sharing this tip, this is common sense (both economical and environmental) and everybody should know this! Keep the good tips coming :)!
Love this post! Thank you for spreading wisdom and tips!
Warm Regards,
Alexandra
http://www.littlewildheart.com
Wow. How AWESOMELY Cool is THAT! I think it is so Wonderfully Touching that you care about us on the West Coast. Thank you, you Totally Rock! : )
The Weaver Of Words…..give me 15 words and I’ll tell you a tale
http://www.averyfairytale.wordpress.com
Wow I didn’t know this! Definitely going to do some reattach about the toilets in my house!
http://woodlandhalls.wordpres.com
it looks like drop-a-brick never got off the ground. they never reached their project goal on indiegogo & i can’t find any other way to buy one.
Thank you for this post, I am one of the founders of the drop a brick campaign. Although we didn’t reach the campaign target, we still decided to produce the bricks for those that ordered them. We are nearing fulfilment of those orders and will be figuring out how to get them back on the market ASAP. Please keep checking our website www. Dropabrick.org
So great for y’all to feature ways to conserve water on your page. Most people probably don’t think of the fact that a single flush wastes so much water. This drought is a scary scary thing!
http://thedoubletakestyle.wordpress.com
“If it’s yellow let it mellow” no need to flush everytime either!
interesting post, thanks for sharing!!
http://trulyaddia.wordpress.com
Did you know ALMOND production in California sucks up insane amounts of water?
The amount of water that California uses annually to produce almond exports would provide water for all Los Angeles homes and businesses for almost three years.
It takes 1 gallon of water to produce just 1 almond. Read up:
http://grist.org/food/california-almonds-los-angeles-drought/
Another thing to do is to reduce your meat consumption. Producing 1 pound of beef needs over 1,200 gallons of water. Producing 1 pound of tofu however only needs around 300 gallons. Huffington post produced a great article about this in 2014 with more examples of which elements of our diet is better to exclude or switch to converse water. It would be awesome if you could write about it. MUCH LOVE! Xx
http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5952862
This is a fantastic idea and I love seeing people helping to conserve water wherever they can! I would just like to point out that California is not putting any mandates on big corporations water consumption which is the majority of water usage in the state… Doesn’t seem very fair to me.
Wow! I can’t believe I have never heard of this before! I’ll implement in my own home this weekend. Thanks for sharing!
Hayley
http://www.whattodowithlemons.com
I love learning about environmental awareness and ways to conserve! I’ll stick with the milk jug first, though :)
In my home we have had a brick in the back of the toilet and the floatation bar bent slightly for ages, and an extreme method is to shower with a bucket in the shower and the extra caught water is used to fill the back of the toilet when you flush (this means you constantly have to take the lid off or just leave it off so it’s far less popular). There are tons of methods for conserving water ( I live in a desert and it’s just a natural thing to do).
Your understanding of the causes of the California water crisis is superficial at best. I know this is just a fluffy blog but, really, a cursory Google search isn’t too much to ask of you.
This is a great tip Naomi! Thanks so much for sharing and for bringing attention to this serious matter!
XXXXX
Lila
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/04/08/how-california-farmers-are-conserving-water-and-why-youre-the-one-that-ends-up-using-it/
Did you know that every year California is required to release hundreds of thousands of acre feet it’s reserves and groundwater through its delta to help save in endangered species of fish? 51% California’s water supply to be exact. There also is no proof that the sacrifice of water is helping this endangered fish. Of the remaining 49% of water available California farmers use 80% of that. They use this water to grow much of our nation’s food supply and the world too. This ensures that when you go to your local whole foods that you will be able to find your spinach, your asparagus, artichokes, almonds, pistachios, fruit, citrus, kale lettuce, garlic, strawberries, berries, cherries, blueberries and all of the other super foods that you enjoy. Thank You for bringing this post and this issue of California’s drought on the radar. Best way to be prepared for a drought is to conserve and reserve water. Food Grows Where Water Flows!
Lila alfalfa uses far more water than the almond and most of it gets shipped overseas to feed cattle. At least almonds are feeding us and making a profit.