I use less than 5L of water to shower in our motorhome and I take a very decent shower. It is all about knowing how to use that water. Likely a shower at home would use over 10 times that. Here is the water consumption in EU on average:
statista.com/chart/19591/avera…
The average human in Spain consumes in a day as much as we two consume in a week in our motorhome.
Ride With Less videos.trom.tf/c/ridewithless/… :)
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Rokosun
in reply to Tio • •@Tio
I don't want to know how much water I use to shower 🙈 🥲
I don't think I'd be okay with having to wipe off my utensils instead of washing them, but I guess it makes sense in a motorhome considering limited water storage. Life in the motorhome might be an extreme example but in general I agree that people should be mindful of their resource usage..... I feel like it'd be better to use water from a well or something for our shower if possible, no need to have treated drinking water in our bathrooms at all.
Tio
in reply to Rokosun • •We wipe the dishes and cutlery a little bit before washing them. It is really not a bi deal and many people who use dishwashers do that before putting them in the dishwasher. As someone who always wanted comfort and wants to feel at home wherever I live, I can tell you these different practices like with the dishes or showering with little water are far from extreme :)
But yah water usage at home is insane. Maybe sensors can help, like when you are under the shower to have the water run but not when you are soaping and not directly under idk. But feels insane to consume so much water, like you go pee and flush 4-5L of fresh water for that...wtf....
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Rokosun
in reply to Tio • •@Tio
Oh so you always wash it off after wiping, that makes sense. Anyway good that you feel at home with this lifestyle.....
Wait, do people not turn off their shower when soaping? Why do you need a sensor for this lol 😂 It reminds me of those ads ran by a toothpaste company on world water day showing someone who doesn't turn off his tap when brushing his teeth, it was like a PSA to get people to close their taps when not using water. I never did those things so it sounded a bit crazy to me that someone just wouldn't close their tap like that.....
4-5L of water to flush down your pee is insane man. It reminds me of a little trick I saw on YouTube one day, where you fill a 1L bottle with water and put it in your toilet's flush tank, so that way you'll be saving 1L of water on every flush. This is also why I think you shouldn't use drinkable water in your toilet or bathrooms if possible.... If you can pump ground water from a well or something that could be used instead of using treated drinkable water.
Tio
in reply to Rokosun • •Yah as far as I know people do not turn off the shower or tap while washing or brushing. For shower I also didn't do it....so yah....
And for flushing the toilet I think the best would be to use the sink water to do that. Like store the sink water into the toilet tank basically...
I am sure there are solutions for these if there is an incentive for it.
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Rokosun
in reply to Tio • •@Tio
It also baffles me how people can apply soap on their bodies when the shower is running, especially if you have a small bathroom like in the motorhome - do you have space to move away from the shower stream? I usually just turn it off 'cause why keep the water running when you don't need it.
I don't know if people would be keen on reusing waste water like that, it could give off bad smell as well if not treated properly..... But we definitely don't need to use fresh water on our toilet flush that's for sure.
Maybe there will be more incentive in water scarce areas.... This conversation reminded me of this video I watched a while ago -
Yeah resource management is more complex than people realize.....
Tio
in reply to Rokosun • •No in the motorhome I dont think anyone does that. I used to do it at home were water was "infinite" and the space was bigger.
That is true but I've seen things like this in Japan where they reuse the sink water for flushing the toilet. Thing is you flush many times a day so that water wont stay too long in the tank. Maybe that wont make it smelly idk.
Yah but what is fresh water and non fresh water? Like you need different piping system for non-fresh? And fresh doesnt mean much from what I know mea
... show moreNo in the motorhome I dont think anyone does that. I used to do it at home were water was "infinite" and the space was bigger.
That is true but I've seen things like this in Japan where they reuse the sink water for flushing the toilet. Thing is you flush many times a day so that water wont stay too long in the tank. Maybe that wont make it smelly idk.
Yah but what is fresh water and non fresh water? Like you need different piping system for non-fresh? And fresh doesnt mean much from what I know meaning it goes to some filters and has some stuff added to it. But to have another system for non fresh water seems a lot of headache for big cities or towns.
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Rokosun
in reply to Tio • •@Tio
I didn't know Japan had such a system, that is so cool. And by fresh water I mean drinkable water, the one you get from the tap has usually gone through some processes to make it safe to drink. And I don't mean to do it on a city scale, but there are homes and apartments where they pump up ground water (from a well or something) to a separate tank - so you can use that water on your toilet and bathrooms but still get drinking water on your kitchen for example.
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Jacob Urlich 🌍
in reply to Tio • •It’s all about human behavior. You need to ask questions like: Would a person change how they use water if it saved them £10 a year? £100? £1,000? Some people still wouldn’t change their behavior, even if the savings reached £5,000 a year, or would invest in constant running water toilet, because it is hassle to them to use a toilet brush.
In a motorhome, water is scarce, so you change your behavior because you don’t want the hassle of running out. Being on the grid feels different—you don’t need to worry about turning off the tap while brushing your teeth, because water feels abundant. You might only close the tap if you’re short on money.
Constant awareness of every action feels exhausting. In fact, people often develop mental illnesses from living in a state of constant vigilance. Most people just want to feel comfortable.
To change human behavior and persuade people to change, you need to study them and build strong relationships with them—just as politicians do. Politicians adjust policies bas
... show moreIt’s all about human behavior. You need to ask questions like: Would a person change how they use water if it saved them £10 a year? £100? £1,000? Some people still wouldn’t change their behavior, even if the savings reached £5,000 a year, or would invest in constant running water toilet, because it is hassle to them to use a toilet brush.
In a motorhome, water is scarce, so you change your behavior because you don’t want the hassle of running out. Being on the grid feels different—you don’t need to worry about turning off the tap while brushing your teeth, because water feels abundant. You might only close the tap if you’re short on money.
Constant awareness of every action feels exhausting. In fact, people often develop mental illnesses from living in a state of constant vigilance. Most people just want to feel comfortable.
To change human behavior and persuade people to change, you need to study them and build strong relationships with them—just as politicians do. Politicians adjust policies based on their own interests of their position, or the interests of their city or town. But even after a policy is updated, how the population will react remains unknown. Will they make different decisions? It’s a complex interplay of emotions, money, and interests.
A poor person sees solutions through their own bias, just as a rich person does. A poor person might save water by turning off the tap, while a rich person might develop an automatic tap, start a tap company, and become even richer.
Tio
in reply to Jacob Urlich 🌍 • •I agree of course that you can't just shame people into changing their behaviors. You need a different infrastructure and incentive.
Hard to agree with that. Politicians, at least most of them, are business people.
Jacob Urlich 🌍
in reply to Tio • •Yes, it may look that way from your perspective. But how was that perspective formed? The tendency is for people to share only the "bad" things—scandals, failures, and controversies. Yet there are many good politicians, like regulators and policymakers, who work behind the scenes. You won’t see daily news articles celebrating how incredible it is that your phone’s battery doesn’t explode every day, for example.
Examining your own perspective (and biases) is a good starting point. Engaging in strong, open dialogue—with your biases acknowledged and an interest in diverse viewpoints—can attract people with different perspectives and lead to better solutions.
Consider the human body: it wasn’t created by anyone; it’s self-regulating. Yes, it has problems—illnesses that cause suffering and death—but if you only focus on those, the body itself might seem like a failure. The systems on this planet are also self-regulating. We adjust some aspects and study the outcomes, but no one fully controls them, just as no one c
... show moreYes, it may look that way from your perspective. But how was that perspective formed? The tendency is for people to share only the "bad" things—scandals, failures, and controversies. Yet there are many good politicians, like regulators and policymakers, who work behind the scenes. You won’t see daily news articles celebrating how incredible it is that your phone’s battery doesn’t explode every day, for example.
Examining your own perspective (and biases) is a good starting point. Engaging in strong, open dialogue—with your biases acknowledged and an interest in diverse viewpoints—can attract people with different perspectives and lead to better solutions.
Consider the human body: it wasn’t created by anyone; it’s self-regulating. Yes, it has problems—illnesses that cause suffering and death—but if you only focus on those, the body itself might seem like a failure. The systems on this planet are also self-regulating. We adjust some aspects and study the outcomes, but no one fully controls them, just as no one controls your body.
No one invented communism, fascism, democracy, or capitalism. Similarly, no one "creates" the flu, cancer, dementia, or Parkinson’s disease. These are part of an evolving process.
If you see rain every day, it doesn’t mean it rains every day of the year. Perspective shapes what we notice—and what we overlook.