Two months ago I wrote an article about Chris Rossiter, a Danville resident who needed 2,000 + gallons of water per day (GPD) to keep his backyard paradise thriving. Enter the drought of 2015 and Chris was faced with a requirement to reduce his usage by 20% or face an Excessive Use Penalty from his water company. His usage was nearly twice that and he knew he had to do something about it.
Chris borrowed a trailer, setup a tank hauling system and put in temporary irrigation all over his yard. Chris streamlined everything to make watering with recycled water from two area fill stations, a breeze.
Fast forward to today and with it another billing cycle. Chris’ household water usage is just above 700 GPD, thanks to his willingness to haul between 7,800 and 10,000 gallons of recycled water per week.
Chris sent me his latest home water report and I learned quite a few things.
First, his water usage in August 2013 was 2,926 GPD. Nearly, 1,000 gallons higher than he had originally thought.
Last month, August 2015, he has reduced his households usage to 709 GPD, a 76% reduction!
Chris still waters 6 days a week with recycled water and runs his sprinklers through a normal cycle on Sunday to wash the salt off the leaves (recycled water has a high salt content which varies by provider). He knows its not financially economical to haul recycled water but as he said again, this is not why he he does it. The cost of losing every living plant in his yard is worth more than hauling water 4-5 times a day.
His 6/10th’s acre property is “very green”, his pool is covered and loses very little to evaporation. He said he’s also been able to reduce water usage inside as well.
Congrats Chris! 76% reduction is something we all should strive for. Keep up the good work!
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