You’re invited to a Baby Shower
September 16, 2011
We woke up this morning to -5C and a healthy layer of frost on the window. We have pretty much zero humidity which puts us at an advantage to our southern Canadians when it comes to shorter showers.
Learning to take showers involves a couple of things including getting a baseline of what we do now by measuring and timing, and then challenging ourselves to do things better.
It also means not showering at all. We don’t have the humidity here so it’s not unusual for people to shower a couple or three times a week rather than daily.
The Yukon is a sub-arctic semi-arid climate. Soils are a mix of sand, silt and clay, so many people outside of city limits or in rural areas do not have a well. They rely on water delivery which is trucked in on a regular basis and goes into a holding tank. As you can imagine, conservation is built into this system because you pay a hefty price for it up front and naturally you want to make it last as long as possible.
At our home we have the advantage of pumping our own water out of the Yukon River, we can do this as much as we want as long as the temperature is above -15C. After that we run the risk of hoses freezing up. But it’s a hard and time-consuming job, which means every shower, and water use is appreciated in a much different way.
When we did our measurements recently, Brian’s showers came out longest in time and largest in water consumption, but how could we possibly “ride” him for that …after all, even though we say the Royal “we” when we refer to pumping water, it’s pretty much him who does the work. So for that he can monitor and set his own limits and challenges because after all, the hard work of hauling a cast iron pump down to the river is a huge motivator wouldn’t you say?
Our Challenge:
We’ve changed our “low flow” shower head to one with a lower flow, and added a shut off valve at the base just like we had years ago. Now we’ll be able to play with these features and see what they do to help us with the challenge of shorter showers. We’re inviting you to try a baby shower !!. We’ll keep you posted.
I guess in the big cities it's so easy to forget that a lot of Canadians don't have it as easy as we do. As you say, it's extra incentive to save water.
Thanks for sharing, and would love to see more of the unique issues you face living in a remote part of the country.
Marguerite--You look like Sponge Bob's mother. (hee hee)
I'm pretty impressed by your shower times...even though you're all trying to improve (although I don't think you can improve on 5 mins Marguerite! haha) you're still all doing much better than me...9 minutes might be the longest in your household but it's still better than I could do so good job Brian!! haha
I have a question though, if you can only pump water when it's warmer outside, what do you do during most of the year up here...get it delivered like those without wells? Also, where would someone get one of those low-flow shower heads and how are they to install?
I must say, I'm loving this so far, you're doing amazing, all I can say is keep it up and lemme know if there's any way I can help...your trusty agent is always available to lend a hand hahahaha ;)
-A-
Ha ha. You should see her in person.
Occasionally when we are near the end of our water and then we get a cold snap for 2 weeks ..like last year when temperatures were below -35 for a couple of weeks ...then we were really scaping of the bottom. The good news is that with the low flow and shut off valve and Marika flushing our toilet with the water...we should be in better shape and it should last longer.
On the subject of the low flow shower head. You can pick that up at Energy Solutions Centre across from Riverside Grocery. They provide these to folks who are committed to making changes, free of charge. I'm sure you can see why. Interesting for the rest of country to note that even though major city of Whitehorse is on a seemingly endless supply of water with the Yukon River right there, our local Centre provides these products.
That speaks volumes for the importance of water conservation.
Thankyou for your kind remarks. Brian
I can't believe you guys venture to do that in any temperature below 0 degrees but looks like I have a lot to learn and you guys certainly deserve a pat on the back...and yeah, I think you're right, you guys should do a lot better this year with all the ways you're learning to make your water go further...can't wait to hear how it goes down the road :)
I'm gonna have to head over to Energy Solutions Centre once I move into my apartment...definitely getting me one of those shower heads..thanks for the tip! Can't wait to see what else I learn from you guys...keep it up!! :D
-A-
Further to the last comment,
For people outside the Yukon who want to consider a low flow shower head and valve shut off,
the valve shut off is about $7 at the hardware store.We got ours at canadian tire. It is very easy to install,
just a matter of unscrewing the showerhead, putting on the shut off valve and then screwing the showerhead back on.
The showerhead we used is called a "Niagara Earth" low flow. They were given to us for the challenge but they are available on line through...Amazon. Crazy eh. I thought they just sold books. They are around $18.
There is a pretty good website to go to for information on low flow showerheads as well as all sorts of other engergy efficient ideas, articles and products. Once you get to the home page, type "showerheads" into the site searcher and you will find info on the 'best low-flow showerheads'. Niagara is in there with several others. Here is the website for that.
www.metaefficient.com
Now if you cannot find the showerhead that you want at a local retail store, you could try a Canadian website that carries and ships all that stuff. When you get to their page you will see 'accessories' on the left side. So under that and you will find "showerheads". Here is the website for that.
http://wwwgtawater.com/index.asp
Hope this is helpful. Happy showering! Marguerite
One last thing worth mentioning about the showerhead at the on-line website.
I noticed that this one we are using also comes in 1.0 gal per minute and 1.25 gpm model.
If you poke around you will also see that some models with the same specs and this same brand
have the valve shut off built in. So it is one unit then. This might save you some $
Go Kitchen-Kuiacks!
The secret has to be the shut off valve on the low flow showerhead.
For folks that are not familiar with this type of shower head - does the shut off valve allow you to shut off the water flow so that you would lather your body / hair and then resume the water flow? T
This enables both water and hot water (heating energy) to be saved.
pear
Do you have to put filters on the water that you pump up to the house. Do you get it tested. Do you use this water to cook and drink. It is amazing if you can use the water that you pump up to house directly from the river. What a treasure. Another reason to appreciate nature.
Look forward to seeing your next video.
Robert Armstrong
M
I live on the lake shore and pump water with hoses and all, as well, using my hip waders - that water is cold! The process really intimidated me at first, but after making a few adjustments, it's now easy. I use a rigid intake hose into the lake, because a soft hose would go flat from the intake pressure and stop intaking water. But a soft hose is better for the outgoing hose (i.e. the hose that goes from the pump to the water tank) cause it's easier and lighter to haul around. I connected two giant water tanks together, so when I pump, I can store twice as much, and not have to pump as often. Water I pumper in September will last until Xmas. After that I give up and get it delivered, but based on your story, I'll try it again at above -15C.
I have a shower, but I just love a nice hot luxurious bath in my soaker tub with the jets going, once a week whether I need it or not - Ha! It takes about 5 minutes to fill, so the equivalent of one shower. I gladly give up several showers per week for that. like you, I use the tub water to flush the toilet. You mentioned that you pay (either money or work) to pump the water in, but we also pay to have the waste water holding tank pumped out when full. So it makes sense to re-use water as much as is feasible.
One more note: there is a brand new state of the art water facilitation plant at Army Beach turn off that provides safe, filtered water in any quantity. I use that for drinking and cooking. Lots of folks have a water tank in the back of their pick-up, drive up, hook up, and fill the tank in 5 to 10 minutes. At home the water is then pumped into their water holding tank.
Go K-K family! Great posts and videos!
Marsh Lake Gal
I am impressed that you do not have to put filter on your water that is pumped directly from the river. It doesn't look like you have grown any fins or gills so we can assume that the water is pure and safe.
I would caution you about becoming complacence though...Keep testing the water!. The Yukon is not the same place as is was 5-10 years ago. Since you have tested your water in the past you would have baseline reports of the clarity of the water. It would be interesting to see if it has changed much over the years.
Don't forget that it is ordinary folk like yourself that are "keepers" of the environment and I would assume that your family would be the first ones to make people aware if anything is out of sync.
We cannot expect people in government or large companies to do this for us. (Sometimes it they have a delayed reaction)
Robert Armstrong
Pat Bourke
Off to the energy symposium !!
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