Water is a near-infinite resource in our world. However, that’s not enough! Water may be everywhere, but are you sure it is clean? Is the water you drink or the river near your house clean? The nearby river or creek may not have the same sparkling water you can find in a beach resort, but that’s no excuse to leave it as it is! We should all do our part to make sure all types of water is clean. How? Here are my tips.
1. Wash those water dispensers! A lot of people are not aware that those hot and cold dispensers may be dirty. Bacteria stick to the hot and cold taps, as well as the inside when you change the bottle. Over time, all that bacteria accumulates. Eventually, every glass you drink is laced with bacteria! You don’t want any children to get sick, do you? To prevent this, clean your water dispenser by running bleach through it every month. Rinse it by running a lot of tap water through. This also applies to any water containers you reuse. Make sure you wash them!
2. Clean up animal droppings. Storms can carry that stuff to rivers and creeks, dirtying the water and introducing bacteria. Keep them clean by disposing of poop in the trash bin! It may be disgusting to handle it, and I will be the first to say that, but remember that it is for the environment! Getting your hands dirty is no big thing.
3. Have your water tested. If you get your water from a well, make sure to have it tested at least every few months, specifically for nitrate. If you get it from a public supply, make sure that it’s a clean supply! If you’re paranoid, you may even want to test that. It may cost money, but prevention is better than cure any day. I’m glad my own water supply is clean. Make sure it complies to the Clean Water Act!
4. Wash on your lawn. Clean your car on the lawn instead of the driveway; better have the soapy water absorbed into the ground instead of making soapy runoff. For that matter do all your washing on the lawn! Runoff can pick up pollutants en route to its destination, so better if you can reduce that. My neighbors wash their animals in the front yard. You may also want to redirect downspouts from your roof to the lawn, or into a container so you can use it for watering later.
5. Don’t be trim-happy! If you live near the bank of a body of water, keep the vegetation there as is! Plants, grass and trees prevent and reduce erosion and hold back pollutants, so do not cut them down or mow them. You’ll be glad you did, one day. You get to keep more actual land on your property!
Whew! It may be tedious, but we can do all our part for clean water. What tips do you live by?
3 Comments
May 1, 2008 at 11:41 am
So this list is telling me to go around my neighbourhood picking up other peoples pet droppings? I may make an incredibly marginal difference to the millions of litres of water used by my city if I pick up two turds a day but I’ll be known as “that wierdo that goes round picking up faeces”. And won’t washing my car on the lawn ruin it?
May 2, 2008 at 12:12 am
I agree. First off “water is a near infinite resource in the world” is the stupidest way of thinking. And then in addition to that, all the tips are absurd. People who drink out of wells get their water checked, you have to. People who drink city water in North America are drinking certifiably clean water. Do you think that if you are the one magic person to check the water with your take home test kit, or the overpriced water testing man you will catch those awful nitrates in the city water supply? No. When something like that does happen, it is scandalous (Walkerton, Ontario, Canada?). I am by no means a brainwashed 100%-government aligned citizen, however, I trust them on the whole to not give us tainted water, and to do a better job testing it than a take home test or something (as in, every second of every day as water runs through purification facilities). I agree with Pat as well. I can say with enough certainty to type it that if you got, say, 1 in 10 people to pick up 2 turds a day (Which is a far greater number than would or will partake in cleaning up after other people’s pets), and then were too graph the data on some chart entitled something like “dog shit removal vs. water cleanliness”, there would be no increase. As for washing your car on your lawn, 1) What an awful thing to do to your lawn, 2) I think it’s illegal to park on your lawn, and 3) how tacky.
I guess kudos on “wash things you dirty” though.
May 3, 2008 at 10:57 am
Agreed. I work hard and pay my taxes for my government to ensure I have clean drinking water (the boffins in the labs know far more about water than you or I). I’m not concerned by any aspect of my water supply. I don’t know whether It’s the purest water around but my grandmother has been knocking around for ninety two years on the stuff so it couldn’t be classed as hazardous. Silly list, I mean picking up other peoples pet droppings? ludicrous!
Like you say Colin, would it make a difference? I’m sure all the motor oil dripping from the bottom of wreckers is more of a threat than a bit of digested dog food.
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