Water is essential to our lives and our business. The EPA reports that less than 1% of all water on Earth is usable by people. (The rest is salt water or frozen.) It is challenging for many communities to manage and maintain community water resources.
Communities invest money and energy to produce, transport, and clean the water. Efficient water use at home and at work supports a healthy and sustainable community.
The Pure team began water conservation initiatives in 2010. On an average day, we use roughly 150-200 gallons of water to mix our product. We wanted to design and install a rainwater collection and filtration system that would fulfill the needs of our spring and summer services.
It would reduce our use of public water resources while also saving the company money. (An added perk!) By the spring of 2011, our 2,100 gallon tank was collecting rainwater that ran off the roof of our shop in Weston, Massachusetts. As long as nature provided the rain, we would reach our goal.
In 2011, we did not source any water for our product mixing from community drinking water resources. We even were able to use the extra rainwater for cleaning our vehicles and equipment. We challenge ourselves to do this again in 2012 and in all future seasons. As Pure grows, discovering innovative ways to scale our use of rainwater will continue.
Here are 5 easy ways you may not have thought of that you can do to save water:
- Think before dumping water down the sink. Can you use it to water plants or clean?
- Don’t let the tap run. Ever let the tap run to get a cold glass of water? Instead, store drinking water in a pitcher in the refrigerator so cold water is ready and waiting.
- Start a compost pile. Kitchen sink garbage disposal often need a lot of water to operate.
- Water plants in the early morning or late evening. Watering when it’s hot and sunny is wasteful because most of the water evaporates before the plants have time to drink it.
- Head to the car wash. Instead of washing at home with a hose, find a local car wash that recycles their water. (Or, build a rainwater collection system like us to use!)
UPDATE 3/30/2012: Our rainwater collection system was featured on Wicked Local!