Greening Bath Time
by Tamara Wilhite
(Bedford, TX)
It's important to stay clean with a regular bath or shower, but you can do it without wasting a ton of hot water if you apply the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra at bathing time.
Bath time (or showering, for those who can do it fast enough to save water that way) is necessary for good health. Unlike many consumption-based activities, it's not something we can or should eliminate or even reduce in frequency to help save water and energy. However, the "reduce, reuse, recycle" mantra can be applied to bath time.
1. Don't use water hotter than is necessary. If you have a habit of making baths too hot and having to let them cool, find the "comfortable" setting on the hot water faucet and mark it with tape or in another way so that you only turn on the bath to the comfortable heat level. Overly hot water takes more energy to heat than lukewarm water. A secondary benefit is less steam generated by the overly hot water, which can exacerbate mold and mildew growth in the bathroom that requires chemicals and time consuming scrubbing to eliminate.
2. If your child complains the water is hot, it may seem like an easy and fun fix to throw in some ice cubes. It makes for a fun thing to play with while your child gets cooler water faster. However, it took electricity to freeze the ice now floating in the bath tub. Consider buying a rubber duck toy that changes color when the water is too hot. This prevents the child from being put in water too hot for safety while providing a cheap and fun bath toy.
3. Asking people to take very short showers can be the equivalent of asking them to deny themselves a pleasant wake up call. If taking a shower takes a long time, consider a lower flow head to save water without denying yourself the pleasure.
4. Use fewer conditioners, skin treatments, and body washes in the shower. Fewer chemicals used to "freshen up" will save you money and reduce the potential impact of all these substances running down the drain. See if you can do without them, or switch to an all in one product for hair and for skin instead of multiple products. And if used when in the shower, find a way to apply them without having the water running.
5. Can you wash your hair every other day instead of every day? This would reduce the amount of shampoo used (saving money) as well as the time spent in the shower every other day (saving water).
6. Can you shave out of the shower instead of in it? If not, try doing it without the water running.
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