Water conservation made simple

Ah water. It makes up most of our human body so without it, we die. Drought and contamination are serious considerations when it comes to thinking about water and how we will use it in the future. This year in Austin, rainfall has been very low. Area lakes like Lake Travis provide very important power, recreation and water to our community.

To put rainfall into perspective, Austin’s total rainfall for 2007 was around 43 inches or almost 11 inches over the annual average. Our average rainfall for Austin is 31.88 inches. To the date (11-01-08) the total rainfall for 2008 has only been 12.94 inches or almost 18.95 inches below the annual average. In 2006 our beloved Lake Travis was at a 42 year low of 25 feet below normal levels. The last time it was this low was 1964. At the time of this post the level of Lake Travis is 23.92 feet below the full level.

The importance of the low modern-day levels is the simple fact that the local population today is substantially greater than 1964. In addition, this natural resource has been in an emergency state two of the last three years.

Any of the following things can be done to contribute to conservation of this precious and limited resource:

• Low flow or dual flush commodes
• Low flow shower heads – available from the City of Austin
• Turn off your lawn irrigation system till springtime
• Turn off the water as your brush your teeth or shave
• Hand wash dishes
• Monitor your laundry load and wash only what is necessary

Conserve water now and lower your household cost of this resource. You will also reduce the enormous amount of green house gases and the chemical additives that go into the production of our water supply.

For more information click on the LCRA site

My house is putting me in the poor house!

OK, now that I have come to the frightening conclusion that this economy has come to a screeching halt, I am looking for ways to get my utility bills from “WHAT THE *#%@” to “Not so bad”

My real estate inspection business has been slow all year with no signs of recovery. My pest control business hasn’t grown enough to pay back my initial start up costs and I typically don’t pay myself for the work I do on a start-up till its in the black. Yes, as painful as it is, I am realizing that I can no longer deny the position I am in. So the other day I started thinking about how I can cut my bills since I’m not bringing in the funds like I used to. Having our family income cut to more than 50% this year and the fact that we are finding ourselves locked into most of our financial obligations, I really don’t have many areas I can voluntarily cut expenses.

The utility bill for my house a couple of months ago was over $800. Yes thats right over $800. This particular bill was twice an average summer utility bill. Did that freak me out? Not really. I’ve been living in denial I guess. Now I’m freaked out. So, I’m looking for ways to just lower my electric bill and I’ve come up with several things I am implementing now.

First and foremost, anything that is plugged in to an electrical socket that has a power supply (computers, Wii, TV, reciever, etc.) will be turned completely off and unplugged. Appliances that can go into stand by mode still draw current and use electricity when not in use. This energy is called “vampire” or “phantom” energy and runs up the electrical meter without our knowledge. Another interesting consideration is that the more electricity you use, the higher you step up to the next rate and pay more at each level. The more you use, the more expensive it gets.

In addition to controlling vampire current, any light bulb that is not being used by someone in the house at that moment, is turned off. Night lights left on in the middle of the night are turned off as soon as we get out of bed. And if it gets any worse, the night lights will be put in a drawer and not used at all. Dishes are washed by hand and dried on the dishwasher racks. The dishwasher is not used at all. Clothes are hung back up if they are not dirty and worn again if possible to reduce our washing and drying load. The A/C thermostat has been programmed for 82 degrees F in the day time and thank God its getting cool outside.

Yes, with kids, this new implementation is much more difficult but we’ve been talking a lot about where water and electricity comes from and that we indeed have to pay for it with money. My 6 and 8 year old are getting it and they are helping us to stay vigelent and keep our bills down. I also helps to tell them when we have money again, we can buy treats again.