How to reuse water

The environmental and economic effects of water reuse have been studied in numerous investigations from countries around the world. The reason for the interest and awareness about these water saving and reuse measures ? Clearly there are several responses, among them, the urgency to have enough water to meet the daily needs of the population in the face of times of droughts and sudden environmental changes that plague the availability of water in many countries, both in the southern hemisphere and in the Northern hemisphere of the planet. Here you can learn more about this problem, since in this other post we talk about What is drought, its causes and consequences .

It is no longer enough to manage or dose the amounts of water that we consume for domestic and / or leisure uses and maintenance of vehicles, plants and animals with which we live, but today, we must act with measures of reuse and recycling of the Water , that is, giving it new uses, not throwing it away after the first use we make of it and having new and ingenious tools that allow us to get the most out of the least amount of water possible.

In the next sections we will see in more detail what to do to reuse water and become experts in water recycling.

The reuse of water is a practice that encompasses various and numerous methods that allow us to reuse the water that we have used for cooking, washing, etc. The new use that we give to this water will be very beneficial, both for our pocket (by saving us consuming more water and paying for those extra liters), and for the environment, since we know that the lack of water due to droughts and meteorological changes Shocks are affecting more and more areas of the planet. To explain how to reuse water , let’s put some examples and tips to learn and / or improve our water reuse habits:

Reuse of water with domestic uses

• Water from food cooking: the preparation of various dishes and stews (such as pasta, soaked legumes and boiled vegetables), as well as the simple washing and rinsing of fruits and vegetables, make it possible for us to give a new use to water that is left over and that we generally throw into the sink without further ado. Therefore, it will be very advantageous to take advantage of this excess water to prepare broths, sauces and rice; counting on the numerous minerals and vitamins that the water maintains from its previous use.
• Shower water: do you know how much water is consumed in the shower ? During the shower we spend between 30 and 40 liters of water daily per person. We can get an idea of ​​how exorbitant this figure is and the need to try to take advantage of and reuse this water. To do this, various methods, such as placing plastic bags, bottles or other containers, allow us to store the water while we shower and use it later to supply the toilet, for example, or to wash the dishes (taking into account the remains chemicals such as soaps and shampoos that we have used).
• Waste water from the washing machine: did you know that for every kilo of clothes we wash in the washing machine, around 9 liters of water are consumed? This appliance that facilitates and speeds up the washing of our garments is one of the main consumers of domestic water. Therefore, it is more than advantageous to install a mechanism that allows us to obtain, through a pipe connected to the appliance itself, the excess water after washing and store it in a drum. Later, we can reuse it to wash cars and motorcycles, as well as to scrub floors and patios.
• Air conditioning water: it is also very useful to take advantage of the water that these devices usually give off when cooling the air, simply placing a bottle at the end of the water outlet pipe that they release. This accumulated water can be used without problems to wash clothes by hand and / or dishes, as well as to iron clothes.

Reuse water from plant irrigation

After the correct filtration of the water in the substrate of the pots of ornamental, medicinal or culinary plants that we have at home, we can reuse the excess water that accumulates in the dishes placed under the pot for new waterings and care of these plants .

Reuse the water used at home for our animals

Normally, the water used to bathe our animals will be useful to reuse it in the toilet tank or to have it in the basin or bucket on hand to use it for that purpose, instead of flushing, while the water that results from Cleaning and maintaining a fish tank can be useful for watering garden plants, as it contains numerous minerals and organic substances as a result of the life of the fish in this water.

Along with the numerous methods of reusing water for domestic use that we have seen in the previous section, we can add another easy and effective measure, this time based on the reuse of rainwater . Within everyone’s reach, various and ingenious methods are used to capture the water that falls during the rainy season, wherever it is in the corner of the planet where we live.

Placing drums or any other suitable container to store the water that falls from the rain on the roofs of the houses and buildings or even the water that falls directly on floors and gardens, we can store and distribute the water according to the needs that we want to cover in Our day to day.