miles biked - 26
water - 7.5125 gallons used (7.4875 surplus)
So....I've been taking some pretty primitive showers lately and needed some water conservation advice, luckily, I had some excellent resources for conserving water yesterday in Graceville. The couple who was the driving force behind initiating the greenhouse project (Bill and Carol Sutkus) lived for 21 years on a farm in NY without running water. They wanted to raise their children 'off the land' connecting them to where our resources come from. Living this long off the water grid eliminated any "need" they had for running water, and their family found ways to maintain their quality of life with the water they could carry from their well. They told me they would carry a 10 gallon bucket about 3 times a day from the well and pour it into a large open cistern inside the house. Whenever water was needed, it was scooped out with a cup or large ladle into whatever container was needed.
Another resource was one of my committee members, Virajita Singh. She grew up in Mumbai where water conservation was a part of almost everyone's culture. The tradition, and the way she grew up was to bucket shower, and she has raised her two boys to bucket shower as well. Virajita and her son Madhav explained to me that even though they have a shower in their house they still bucket shower because that is their habit. They use about a 5 gallon bucket (which stays in the bathtub) and fill it with tap water which they then use a cup to dump over their heads to shower. I asked them how you shower with one hand, and Madhav says "Its very easy!"
However, its tough to break habits. Every morning a fill my rain barrel up with my 15 gallon "water quota". Every time I need water for something I fill a certain container with the amount of water needed (record it) and carry it to wherever I am using it. However, I have found myself turning on the tap ALL THE TIME without realizing it. Usually, at some point using the water I notice that I have the tap on instead of using water from the rain barrel. Like everywhere in the world, our spaces reflect our use of resources, for water-its in the bathroom. A typical American bathroom evolved out of having running tap water; we have a space for the toilet, a tap for the sink and two taps for the shower and tub faucets. As soon as I have stopped using running water I've realize how inefficient the space really is to bring in water in different containers. I have to carry my gallon bucket into the shower, bring another bucket and place it near the sink to wash my hands. I've gotten in the habit of doing all my washing in the tub because it is the biggest space to put a bucket. I stand in the tub with clothes on and wash my face at night, I stand in the tub to wash my hands. Ideally, I think the whole bathroom would be tiled with a drain near the center, allowing containers of water to be placed in certain places and then dumped on the floor.
Another interesting thing to consider is that 3.25 billion people in the world live without running water. Water vessels and containers for carrying, drinking and storing are part of thousands of different cultures around the world. A container that the Eames studied was the Indian "lota".
Charles Eames was fascinated by the Lota and considered it significant because it has become, over its evolution, exactly right. The design of the lota addresses the need of retrieving, carrying, storing, and pouring water. In his The India Report, he expressed a great admiration for the Lota and had the following to say about its design:
“ Of all the objects we have seen and admired during our visit to India, the Lota, that simple vessel of everyday use, stands out as perhaps the greatest, the most beautiful. The village women have a process which, with the use of tamarind and ash, each day turns this brass into gold. But how would one go about designing a Lota? First one would have to shut out all preconceived ideas on the subject and then begin to consider factor after factor:
The optimum amount of liquid to be fetched, carried, poured and stored in a prescribed set of circumstances.
The size and strength and gender of the hands (if hands) that would manipulate it.
The way it is to be transported – head, hip, hand, basket or cart.
The balance, the center of gravity, when empty, when full, its balance when rotated for pouring.
The fluid dynamics of the problem not only when pouring but when filling and cleaning, and under the complicated motions of head carrying – slow and fast.
Its sculpture as it fits the palm of the hand, the curve of the hip.
Its sculpture as compliment to the rhythmic motion of walking or a static post at the well.
The relation of opening to volume in terms of storage uses – and objects other than liquid.
The size of the opening and inner contour in terms of cleaning.
The texture inside and out in terms of cleaning and feeling.
Heat transfer – can it be grasped if the liquid is hot?
How pleasant does it feel, eyes closed, eyes open?
How pleasant does it sound, when it strikes another vessel, is set down on ground or stone, empty or full – or being poured into?
What is the possible material?
What is its cost in terms of working?
What is its cost in terms of ultimate service?
What kind of an investment does the material provide as product, as salvage?
How will the material affect the contents, etc., etc.?
How will it look as the sun reflects off its surface?
How does it feel to possess it, to sell it, to give it ? "
(Eames' India Report. National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, India. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.)
I tried to think of what container in American culture most resembles the lota:
This illustration shows what my "water infrastructure" is currently made up of:
Lastly I'd like to address I comment made to a friend that my project was "too extreme". Maybe I need to clarify the intention of the project a little bit better. I'm not jumping to the conclusion that people need to live this way or that people would live this way without oil. It is fairly difficult to imagine how our world, and the intricate framework of connections that creates our way of life, would be affected and disrupted by the loss of our primary source of energy-oil. Local sources will appear to help with many of the things that I will be doing on my own during this project, making things much easier. There will be benefits and sacrifices in the course of the project, influencing my life positively and negatively. The intention of the project is to explore and identify everywhere oil exists in our society, modify my life to avoid oil use as much as possible and create a hypothesis of what a post-cheap oil world might look like in my specific location of the country. As the elimination of cheap oil is a crisis that I will face in my lifetime, I believe that its extremely important to identify what parts of our lives will be affected and begin redesigning the way we live to accommodate a dramatic shift in our lifestyles.
Over and out.
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