Take a "Military Shower"; 10 Airstream-learned Tips for Home Water Conservation

Pre-drought, McKinney Falls State Park, Airstream trip, showing plumbing and electric cables and hoses to the left of the trailer.  In an Airstream, you have more awareness around water and electric use than you might at home.  This site is probably no longer green, but brown and scorched due to the drought in Texas.

Recently, I was out for a walk with the dogs at Houston's lovely Hermann Park , when I walked pass a young mother sitting on a bench while her 3 or 4 year old child  played at the drinking fountain next to it.  The child was mesmerized by how when he turned the knob, water just flowed, and he wanted to make it happen again and again and again.


"Please don't do that," his mother said.  "You're killing the fish." 

We are in the midst of a terrible drought here in Texas.  NPR featured a national story again today about Texas ranchers who are out of water and are forced to sell their cattle.  And about how stressed the cattle, just skin and bones, appear. 


Here in Houston,  we are still under mandatory water restrictions, which were issued a little over a week ago by Mayor Annise Parker.  For homeowners that means you can only water your garden or lawn during certain times and all detectable leaks must be repaired within 72 hours.  When one of our local new channels, KHOU,  reported on the restrictions, these suggestions were also given:  "In the meantime, residents are also encouraged to take other water-conservation measures when possible, such as installing low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators and toilets, refraining from washing cars or filling swimming pools, limiting showers to five minutes, washing only full loads of dishes or clothes and turning off the water while brushing their teeth."


Makes sense to me--many of these measures are not unlike everyday, good water-use practices in the Airstream.  When Airstreaming, if we don't have sewer hookups and are parked at a spot for a few days, I know I have a 30 gallons of water to use before our waste water tank is full.  That's not that much water.  (If you aren't sure what I mean by "hookups", I'll explain that and other when-buying-an-Airstream-type considerations in an upcoming post).


When I read these suggestions for residents, I wondered if our Airstream lessons in water conservation could help us use less water at home--kill fewer fish, as that mom at the park might say.  I thought it would be interesting to compare our daily usage at home to what I estimate our daily usage to be in the Airstream, based on camping without sewer hookups, when we really watch our water use, which is most of the time since we often camp in state parks with water and electric, but no sewer.  When we do that, as I said, we know we have room for 30 gallons of waste water.   We can get by for 3 days and nights on that, with the same number of people as when we're home (2) eating, showering brushing our teeth, washing our hands and faces, washing our dishes, and the same number of dogs (2) eating and having their bowls cleaned after the two meals a day they eat and occasionally having their paws cleaned.  I wanted to compare the Airstream numbers to our at home water-use, when we're usually not forced to think about how much waster water our tanks hold.  

3-gallon measuring bucket in a kitchen sink.  I'll spare you a close up of dish water.

I decided to measure my water use for one day, using buckets, closing drains on hand-washing sinks and the bath, and counting the number of times we flushed the toilet.  I am embarrassed to say I estimate we use at least 65 gallons of water a day.  That includes drinking water, which I drank and didn't waste.  That doesn't include averages for laundry or the dishwasher during the week, nor does it include outside sprinkler system that waters the community garden at the condo where we live.  Our Airstream doesn't have any of that stuff anyway, although I occasionally wash our clothes by hand when we're on the road.    In other words, this was not a super scientific study, but it did show me that in one day at home, we use roughly three times the amount of water we use in the Airstream.  This exercise made me more aware of how the little things I can help to do conserve water might add up.  Here are a few tips that I hope help you:


10 Airstream-learned Tips for Water Conservation:


1.  Take a "military shower."   A military shower is when you turn off the water while you lathering yourself with soap, shampooing, and conditioning your hair, and shaving.  I have long hair, and in the Airstream I've learned to rinse my hair with some water, turn it off, wring the water through my hair, and repeat a few times, rather than just running the water continuously through my hair.  Yup, I actually do that.  To take military showers, it might help to install a water saving shower head with a valve you can easily turn off like we have in the Airstream.   Here's a good option from Waterpik on Amazon.  According to Brighter Planet  (who also has some other great ideas for taking personal action to help the environment) may cut water usage  from 17.2 gallons to 5 gallons or less for the average shower.


2.  When washing by hand, give your dishes a military wash, too.  Fill the sink with a little soap and water.  Scrub your dishes with a sponge and soapy water.  Set a aside until all your dishes are soapy.  Drain the sink and fill it will clean water, both rinsing the soapy dishes in the running water and the sink as you go.  Use a towel and hand dry your dishes right away.  The towel will help you clean them, not just dry them.  


3.  Boil some water, if you need hot water for your dishes or cleaning.  In the Airstream the water heats up fast, but at home it takes while for our water to warm up in certain parts of the house.  Use a kettle or pot instead of wasting gallons of water down the drain until the water runs hot. 


4.  Turn the water off while you brush your teeth.  Don't kill the fish.


5.  Use a cloth to wash your face.  It feels so good to run the water and splash handfuls of water on your face when you wash it.  It also uses a lot of water. Use a cloth to wash your face.  Wet part of the cloth, wash your face with it, apply some cleanser to your face, and wash it off with the wet cloth.  Use that same cloth to dry your face and you'll have less laundry to wash as well.


6.  While you're at it, military wash your hands, too.  Wet them under the faucet, turn off the water, lather them with soap, scrub for 30 seconds (you've seen the "Employees Will Wash Hands" instructional signs) and then turn the water back on and rinse the soap off.


7.  Don't waste drinking water.  If you get a glass of water, drink it.  Don't make a habit of leaving unfinished glasses of water around your house.  If I am not going to finish a glass of water, which is rare, especially in this heat (and because I am pregnant and obsessed with water), I poor the rest into our dogs' bowls.  Believe me, they drink much worse when we're camping and spending lots of time outdoors.


8.  Conserve toilet water.  In an Aistream, or at least in our model, the toilet only releases water as long as you actually hold down the handle (which is really more of a foot pedal).  At home, toilets use way more water--according to the EPA, an inefficient model can use at least 3.5 gallons per flush.  It would be nice to replace standard models with low-flow toilets, but that is an investment.  In the meantime, the Daily Green recommends adding a small water bottle filled with sand or pebbles to the tank, making sure they don't interfere with plumbing parts.  They report this can save 10 gallons of water a day.


9.  When cooking, use only the water you need.  If you are boiling pasta, don't use a gallon and a half of water to make pasta for two.  If you are using water elsewhere in your recipes, measure water from the faucet into your measuring cup and shut off the faucet as soon as you fill the cup.


10.  Implement use of a rain barrel.  Okay, so I didn't learn this in the Airstream, but it is still an excellent water conservation effort.  This is something my awesome husband implemented at the house we sold recently.  We know live in our condo in central Houston, where we're working with neighbors to implement these ideas.  A rain barrel collects rain water you can use for watering plants and flowers as well as outdoor cleaning.  There are other things you can use this water for, but much depends on your whole collecting system (what materials pipes are made with or if your gutters are painted with lead-based paint, for example etc.--see the  Rain Barrel Guide for more information).  I used to live in the Dominican Republic, where they  are called Tinacos.  They are placed on roof tops and when there is no water (which happens a lot because the water only works when there is electricity, which is a major issue there), water from the tinacos flow into your shower and sinks.   Using a rain barrel to water plants is a great start.

Our boy, Wrigely, examining our rain barrel at the old house.
He knew water came from that thing, he just wasn't sure how.

In the Airstream, even if we have sewer hookups, like we do at home, we still like to think in terms of water conservation.  I am not a scientist, but I do follow the news and the stories I hear about people around the world and my own experience abroad tell me water is a luxury, not an unlimited natural resource.  These latest water restrictions reinforce that.  So I am going to strive to continue to "think like I am in the Airstream" and use a lot less water.  Kill fewer fish, as that mom might say, which is a practice I want us to model to our child.  I'd love to hear your ideas for water conservation, whether you have an Airstream or not, so please leave comments.  

Rain barrels and water conservation make Wrigley happy.

All images copyright of Jamie (Rivet Romance) unless otherwise noted

That's Rivet Romance

About a year and a half ago, Tim--my now husband, then boyfriend--and I had only just begun dating.  For those of you who have been searching for the one and haven't quite found him or her yet, or maybe for those of you who had long engagements, a year and a half to go from boyfriend to husband probably sounds pretty quick.  It will sound even faster when I tell you we were married 5 months, 9 days, and 22 hours after our first date.  I can't promise it will work for you, but I will tell you our secret is 'rivet romance.'

We had known each other for a few years, having met through mutual friends, although Tim and I weren't really friends ourselves.  Maybe acquaintances and friendly admirers of one another, but not really friends.  We were both in other relationships when we met, which meant we didn't seriously allow ourselves to consider each other as more than a person for whom we had respect and shared some things in common.  We also knew we were both Iowans living in Texas.  And, though I said we weren't 'friends' we were Facebook friends, and we probably learned a little more about each other through our updates.  That's one way we figured out when our other relationships ended.  When they did, we got together to 'catch up', even though we didn't exactly have a history to catch up on.  But that first date really was like catching up--with someone I had somehow always known well but hadn't talked to in this lifetime.

Things progressed quickly.  We had a lot in common.  For one, I loved cooking and Tim loved eating.  (That's become our joke-I love eating, too, which will become pretty obvious pretty quickly).

First dinner at home - chicken and pancetta ravioli--I love making pasta by hand.

I loved flowers, Tim liked to give me the ones he grew in his backyard.  We like growing things.

First flowers.

We had other things in common to: values, what it was to do good in the world, folk music, farms, and dreams, lots of dreams.  One of those dreams was to own an Airstream.  As a teenager growing up in Iowa in the 90s, wishing it were the 60s, I dreamed of living in a vintage Airstream.  My husband had taken what he likes to jokingly refer to as a brief, early retirement in his mid-20s, during which time he traveled and lived in a non-Airstream brand trailer, but he admired many-an-Airstream from the road and RV parks around the western and midwestern United States.

The Airstream dream then became an actual search.  We began emailing photos and listings of Airstreams back and forth.  We discussed the benefits of smaller or bigger, dinette or bed in front, vintage or new.  There seemed to be many more Airstreams available out west than in Texas.  Were we serious enough to fly to Oregon to tow back a trailer?  We had only been dating for 3 months. But we were pretty sure this was it.  When we found a trailer in northern Texas, and took off one afternoon from Houston in my husband's Tahoe, hitch in the back, checkbooks in hand, we were pretty darn sure.  And when saw the Airstream sitting outside a pretty little house we would love to live in...

and when the dogs seemed pretty comfortable in it even though it was pretty bare...

and then when we left north Texas to drive back to Houston with our '05, 25' Airstream International CCD in tow, we knew this was it.

Takin' 'er home

And it was, just look at the background picture for this blog.  We were married next to the Airstream during a combination Airstream and beautiful bike ride trip across the state of Iowa, RAGBRAI, July of 2010 (another thing we both had always wanted to do).  We like to refer to it as our 'Airstream Wedding.'  We've been happily married for over a year, and we are expecting our first child in January, 2012.  Our life together is a dream come true, although, of course, there  are many more dreams and, just like with the orange fabric in our trailer that we still haven't changed, there is room for improvement.   But I'm thankful for that--it keeps us going.

This blog is an exploration of those dreams and that quest for improvement, specifically the quest to scale down our lives to the level of simplicity of the Airstream, where you have the bare necessities yet abundant beauty.  That's rivet romance, and you can have it to, with or without and Airstream.  Preferably with.

All images copyright of Jamie (Rivet Romance) unless otherwise noted