Tips for saving water (and money) at home

Despite the recent rains in the central-southern zone —and those which seem to be arriving—, which caused the rivers to overflow until recently, quite dry, there is no room for double readings regarding the country’s water situation. : the mega-drought is still in effect.

“Although the El Niño phenomenon caused more frontal systems than in recent years, these rains did not reach the characteristics necessary to mitigate the effects of structural mega-drought,” says Claudia Santibáñez, director of the School of Environment and Sustainability Engineering from the Universidad Mayor.

This widespread rainfall deficit is one of the factors that exert pressure on access to water in various regions of the country. According to Gladys Vidal, director of the Water Resources Center for Agriculture and Mining (CRHIAM), water scarcity in Chile has been present since 2012, affecting “many homes in rural areas – from the north to Chiloé – where many of them can only be supplied by tanker trucks”.

According to Vidal, the problem lies in “the way water is distributed in the country”. However, the determining factors of this crisis are multiple and, as Claudia Santibáñez says, natural and human or anthropogenic elements are mixed, as scientists call them.

Among the former, climate change stands out, as is already the case all over the world. Even if it is due to our species, we will hardly be able to change it again. As for anthropogenic factors, they correspond to the use, misuse and abuse of water. And even if what happens in homes is far from being compared to the damage generated at the industrial level, it would be a mistake to underestimate the impact. Only one piece of data to represent this graphically: according to the Superintendency of Health Services (SISS) , if the daily water consumption of the national population were deposited in 1.5 liter bottles, these would cover 76,744 kilometers of altitude. If the exercise were repeated for five days, this column of containers would reach the Moon.

Last July, the Uruguayan government confirmed what had been feared for months, years and decades: Montevideo, the capital and residence of 60% of the country’s population, had run out of fresh water, affecting almost definitely the drinking water supply. What comes out of a pipe today is no longer drinkable but water loaded with sodium and chloride, to the point that the government’s recommendation is to avoid it at all costs.

“Those of us who could afford bottled water used it for everything. We cook pasta, wash lettuce and make coffee, so we buy more and more plastic containers that end up in the trash. When we took our shower, we did it quickly and with the windows open, because the trihalomethane compounds present in the steam can be carcinogenic (…) Brushing your teeth was like drinking a glass of pool water” , reports the journalist Guillermo Garat in a signature of a trial for the New York Times .

The situation in Montevideo, experts say, was caused by the lack of rain but also by public policies that would have avoided the crisis, such as the construction of water reserves. Something that, according to Gladys Vidal, “could perfectly happen in our country”. This is why “it is essential to improve water management, understanding the particularities of each area”.

Speaking of Santiago, Wilson Alavia, a professor at the Alberto Hurtado University School of Engineering, says water security and ecological flows are under threat, “due to the narrow gap between available resources and their current use. However, he assures that the chances of the capital being in a situation similar to that of Montevideo are low.

“Water supply and resilience strategies have been carried out, as well as investments in adaptation, the construction of mega-ponds, among other actions to ensure the availability of water”, explains the academic. These actions, he continues, “explain that Santiago has a supply capacity of 37 hours when the treatment plants have to stop, unlike most cities, which have a capacity of only 8 or 9 hours”.

Cristián Araya-Cornejo, professor of geography at the UAH, explains that Santiago has a “nivo-pluvial hydrological regime”, that is, it depends not only on rain but also on water coming from snowmelt, “serving for the annual rain snow”. reserve”. For the moment, the fact that “rainfall has not decreased enough this year” distances the capital from the panorama of shortages that Uruguay is experiencing.

But that does not mean that there is no risk. Araya-Cornejo warns that if rainfall continues to decrease and the average temperature increases, the water supply will be affected and in about ten years we could find ourselves in “a similar crisis” to the one that Uruguayans are going through. . “We need to start making plans to adapt to the new reality and change Santiago’s drinking water supply model. The sooner we start, the better. »

In the country, the consumption of drinking water in homes represents on average about 10% of use, a percentage well below the 60% achieved by the agricultural sector – the one that consumes the most in the country – but higher than that of the mining sector, which consumes 5%. If we look at what is happening in the Metropolitan Region, the consumption figures for the residential sector have more than doubled, reaching 22% of the total.

The uses given to water are part of the answers sought through the water footprint, a concept on which the CRHIAM is working. “In simple terms, it is the amount of water we spend in the direct or indirect production of goods and services (for example, making clothes, food, technological items, among others)”, explains Gladys Vidal.

For example, to generate one kilo of beef, you need 15,000 liters of water. And at the national level? It is estimated that the daily consumption of the resource per person is close to 170 liters. However, this figure is far from the daily consumption of a person in the eastern sector of Santiago, which averages 617 liters. This is 6.5 times higher than the average consumption recorded by a person in Coyhaique, according to the SISS.

Hence Wilson Alavia’s call for responsible use of water by populations. “This can help ensure water availability and manage the water situation in Santiago.” By way of example, the academic explains that reducing daily consumption to 160 liters per person would save more than 3,000 liters per second for the residential sector of the RM.

And that the example of Alavia is still far from what the World Health Organization proposes, which recommends that daily consumption be between 50 and 100 liters of water per person.

“The practices that generate the greatest water consumption are the use of the bathroom, the kitchen, laundry, garden watering, car washing and personal consumption,” answers Alavia.

Indeed, a shower consumes between 80 and 120 liters per day, washing hands up to 12 liters, and washing teeth about 18 liters. But if we let the water run while soaping our hands, brushing our teeth or shaving our face, 10 liters of water are wasted every minute. Filling a bathtub involves 200 to 300 liters of drinking water, a goldmine for Uruguayans.

Things get worse if there are leaks in the toilets, for example, which could lead to a waste of 200,000 liters a year. And just leaving the tap running can mean spending between 30 and 700 liters a day.

In the kitchen, 15 to 30 liters are consumed in a single wash, either by hand or in the dishwasher. For cooking and drinking, another 10 liters per day. Let’s add the washing machine (60 to 90 liters), the car wash (about 400) and the watering of the garden (about a thousand liters). And the list goes on and on.

The need for a cultural change that calls for sustainability in water use is fundamental. Part of this change can start at home. “This will not only conserve this resource, but also save a lot of money on water bills,” says Claudia Santibáñez. These practical steps can help you get started on this path:

• Install water-saving devices such as flow restrictors on faucets and showerheads to reduce water flow without compromising functionality.
• Detect and repair any leaks in faucets or pipes.
• Run washing machines only with full loads and adjust cycles to use the least amount of water needed.
• Take shorter showers and remember to turn off the water while you lather up.
• While you wait for the shower water to heat up, collect the cold water to water the plants.
• Opt for plants that are less water-intensive and more resistant to drought.
• Prefer buckets of water to hoses to wash your vehicle, “or use a manual shut-off nozzle for the hose,” says Santibáñez.
• “Use a glass to use the water,” advises Alavia, both for brushing your teeth while brushing and for shaving. “Don’t shave in the shower,” he adds.
• It is better to take food out of the freezer the day before than to thaw it by immersing it in water.
• If you have a dishwasher, “use it only when there are enough dishes to fill it to the top,” says Alavia.
• He prefers the installation of toilets with low water consumption.
• Opt for the use of ecological washing machines. “They use minimal water and energy, it could save up to 12,000 liters a year,” says Alavia.
• When buying products, consider their water footprint and prefer those with less impact.
• “Take advantage of the water with which you wash vegetables and fruits to water ornamental plants later”, advises Gladys Vidal.
• “It is appropriate to promote the integration of technologies in homes that allow the reuse of gray water or the collection of rainwater, for activities that do not include human consumption, so as not to endanger the health of people “, concludes Vidal.