OPINION: Shorter Showers Save Salmon

With our water bills going up and salmon populations in serious decline, this is a good time to consider simple water-saving measures that can save money as well as the salmon, which would like us to take less water from the rivers.

If you have a lawn you don't use, consider replacing it with native plants. (In this economy, it's not difficult to find workers to dig and haul your lawn). Natives, once established, need hardly any supplemental water, provide habitat for birds and pollinators and make the yard far more interesting than a lawn ever can. Consider your lawn as an empty palate where you can add walkways, native trees, shrubs and flowers.

Collect shower water to flush the toilet (pour a bucket of water briskly in the toilet bowl). The pure water going down the drain while the shower is warming up is good for plants. Of course, shorter showers help save energy as well as water. On-demand water heaters save energy, space and water.

Put large trash bins under your downspouts to collect water for your yard. I fill two or three barrels each rainy season, (which is enough in my cool climate coastal city) to keep my plants watered until the fall. In other words, my yard gets zero direct tap water. Rainwater is probably better for plants than treated tap water, anyway. Finally, kitchen sink rinse water can be collected in a bowl and used for a toilet flush or in the yard. A little soapy water generally is fine, especially during the rainy season if not always put on the same plants.

A more ambitious project is to replace a concrete driveway with bricks or blocks that allow water to seep through or between them to the soil, rather than via the sewer to the sea.

If your clothes washer is an old model, check out the available rebates for low-water units.

Someday, gray water plumbing that collects rinse water will be common, but in the meantime, a little low-tech work does the job.