Day 64

            I failed to complete my final lived ethics blog on time which has generated several effects on the project. First, my data has become skewed and my goal of continuing the project for three weeks was thrown off balance. Due to a concussion I was unable to truly record my water usage during the final week. In fact, I used even less water because standing in the shower was too much of a strain for several days. My friends also brought me beverages that weren’t directly from my Nalgene bottle which broke one of my first goals as well.

            However, I don’t consider the project a failure. The extended period of time has allowed me to see the effects of my water conservation plan over a lasting period of time. It has been 64 days since my last post and in that time several things have occurred.

·         I have reverted back to taking showers with warm water, and I tend to stay in for roughly 3 minutes instead of 30 seconds

·         I have continued to drink predominantly from my Nalgene bottle

·         I have continued not to flush the toilet after urination

·         I have continued to wash my hands only when necessary

Based on my calculations from the first blog, three minute showers save close to 2,000 gallons of water a month. I admit there have been days where I go over and fall into the five minute or more shower range but there are also days where I don’t need to shower so I feel like those cancel each other out and for the most part it has been relatively easy to put on a three minute song and stick to the regiment. So over the course of 64 days I think it’s safe to say I’ve saved at least 4,000 gallons of water by cutting the time down.

            As I also stated in my first blog, limiting my toilet flushes to once or twice a day yields about 21 gallons of water saved in 24 hours. I would estimate that I’ve been flushing around four times a day since my concussion and that equals 15 gallons of water saved a day, so if I multiply that time 64 I’ve saved close to 960 gallons of water a day.

            With these two methods alone I have been able to preserve close to 5,000 gallons of water in the last 64 days. Which seems astonishing to me at first, however if I were to gauge myself with teenagers in other parts of the world, I would still come out looking like a greedy, American, water hog.

            However, the point of this blog was to make a significant change in the way that I live my life and to try to inform others about how they can make similar changes in an effort to conserve water. I can definitely say that these two goals have been accomplished and if I’ve been able to do so for 64 days, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to stop any time soon.