Editor, Ceres Courier,

It's time to pony up and conserve water. We have all seen the articles in the paper. We are in for a long, very dry summer. Grass is going to die; bushes, flowers, and trees will die unless something is done.

Here's what my family is doing: I bought buckets; several buckets. We have one in each bathroom, and in the kitchen. When you prep for a shower (or need hot water in the kitchen), you will usually run the hot water until the cold water in the pipe is purged out, right? That cold water is usually flushed down the drain. Turns out that a family of 4 (my family) will waste 10 to 15 gallons a day doing this. We now capture that cold water in a bucket and use it elsewhere.

Do the math. We are "repurposing" about 360 gallons a month, which is 4,300 gallons per year. We use it to manually flush toilets and water plants; and no, I don't enjoy looking into the toilet any more than the next person, but this beats the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" program. Any excess gets chucked onto the yard and bushes. Very little water goes down the drain now. Try it, it works. It will take commitment of the family, but until this drought is over, we are all going to have to do such things. Imagine if the majority of residents would do the same. For every 10,000 households that capture water like we are doing, roughly 43 million gallons per year of fresh water are not wasted down the drain.

G. Henry

LETTERS POLICY: Letters to the editor will be considered for publication but must be signed and include an address and phone number. Letters should contain 250 words or less and be void of libelous statements. Letters may be sent to The Ceres Courier, 138 S. Center Street, Turlock CA 95380 or emailed to jeffb@cerescourier.com.
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