I helped one of my neighbors move all of her plants out of her green house last week. Then yesterday I helped my other neighbors trim on of their cherry tress.

After doing last weeks reading I was really surprised by how much of our water consumption is "virtual", or water that is used during the production and manufacturing of items we use or eat. Around 90% of the water we consume we never even see! So this week I decided to try and reduce my virtual water footprint. I mainly focused on food. I continued my streak of not eating meat from last week, since meat is by far the most water intensive food that we eat. I did some further research on how to reduce virtual water use, and something that was brought up is the consumption of processed food. The process of manufacturing, packaging and distributing these foods, (on top of the water that might be used to grow the ingredients) makes them more water intensive than whole foods. So I also tried to reduce my intake of processed foods. I see this as a win-win, since its not only good for the environment, but also my health.

I tried to be better about reusing my gray water for other things, such as when washing my rice I instead used the water to water plants. I usually end up just dumping it down the drain, but it is around 6 cups of water that would end up getting dumped. So that saved me quite a bit. I also reduced my shower time to 15 minutes tops since generally I like to take somewhat longer showers.

For this week’s water eco challenge I tried to cut down how much water I use in my daily routine. The main thing I focused on was my showers because I know I usually stay in way longer than I need to. I started timing them and tried to keep them around 10 minutes. I also made more of an effort to turn the water off while brushing my teeth, which I didn’t really think about before.

My water bill is added as a utility through my rent, so I personally didn't know how much water I was using in my household, so for this week's topic of water I looked into to it. I reached out to the property managers and inquired about how to check the water meter for my apartment and if there was a way to see the exact charge for water through a bill of some sort. They were very happy to assist. Turns out we don't have individual meters outside the building, but are instead inside the unit, with a handy LCD screen to read water usage as it happens. The sent me a copy of our unit's water usage from last month, and we used a bit less than we did this time last year. but now that I can read our day to day usage i can more directly see the impact I personally have. Since I struggle with long showers I used the meter to start shortening my showers. So far I have shortened it about 5 minutes on the days I work, and about 15 minutes on my days off. While I wish I could reduce the work day showers more, a long hot shower after a 12 hour shift is still a necessity. But now I can better track usage, and work to find even more ways to reduce water waste.

This week was spent learning a lot about the items and appliances that use the most water, I initially wanted to learn how to reduce water waste with my laundry, as I always felt it would be one of the most wasteful, but I was mistaken. Our current washing machine weighs the amount of clothing and adjust the amount of water per load. I had assumed it used the same amount of water every time with every load, knowing that now, I have begin rethinking how to do my laundry, by optimizing the way I sort laundry and measure how my loads I can keep water waste to a minimum while optimizing load size/weight.

Overall I'm happy to have been able to get help from the property managers and for their transparency regarding billing to best adjust my water usage. And lowering my water waste in my showers

For this week's challenge/reflection, I decided to try and expand my initiatives outside myself and towards more people/environment. With the sun coming out more often and the growing season beginning, I decided this week I would try and spread as many native species seeds along paths, parks, and green spaces as much as possible. This is because native plant species thrive under our conditions, offer numerous ecosystem services, and, most importantly, have less of a water demand than foreign or invasive species. Though I cannot immediately see the fruits of my labor, I will periodically check the areas I sprinkled in hopes that some blooms arise!

This week I chose to conserve by brushing my teeth without running water. I don't usually leave the faucet running while I brush, so I modified my routine slightly to just barely wet the brush (with toothpaste already on) at the start, and then only use a small re-usable cup for washing out my mouth and the brush afterwards. In total the faucet only runs for about 2 seconds to fill the cup plus a split second to wet the brush. I think this is about as efficient and sustainable as I can make it and the impact is multiplied as I brush my teeth everyday (usually twice... usually...)

Today I spent about an hour watching a PBS documentary called Upstream, Downriver: Uniting for Water Justice (2025) . I would recommend it! I think it gives a really good overview of the state of water justice in the country right now. It talks about the issues at hand, and it also talks about policy interventions, public action, and technological innovations surrounding water quality.

My eco change project focuses on food systems, and my commitment to sustainable food prep has me cooking much more than I normally would. Since I’m cooking more, I am also cleaning more dishes, and as I’ve been cleaning, it has occurred to me that some of my water use may be wasteful. I clean everything by hand, and when I clean pots, pans, or dishes, I tend to leave the faucet running. Not carelessly, usually. Most of the time, it helps me see where I’m scrubbing, since the water washes away food.