Boxborough Sustainability Committee  reminds us that we can take steps to conserve water!

Boxborough DROUGHT ALERT

The Town is experiencing a serious drought, affecting our wells and our common aquifers. Water connects us to one another, so we must protect water resources we share, while caring for ecosystems, such as our springs, streams, ponds, and wetlands.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

 Water with a hand hose between 7 pm and 7 am. However, early morning is the best time to water vegetables and flowers, in order to reduce evaporation and mold. Let your lawn brown; it will come back in fall. Or each week, give grass no more than an inch of hand watering late afternoons or early mornings.

 Consider reducing lawn sizes, planting native drought-resistant plants, harvest of rain/grey water for irrigation purposes, and protect existing forests!

 Take a four-minute shower: get wet, turn off the water, shampoo and wash with soap, turn on the water, rinse off. (And get a low-flow showerhead.)

 Turn off the faucet when you brush your teeth or shave.

 Postpone washing your car, patio, or house.

 Run full loads in clothes and dish-washing machines, and don’t run water continuously when washing dishes by hand.

 Replace old appliances with EnergyStar units.

 Compost veggies or put all food scraps in Black Earth at the Transfer Station. Your garbage disposal uses lots of water.

 Reduce the water level in an old toilet by adding a sand-filled bottle or a brick or two to the tank. Old toilets may use 7 gallons of water each flush, new toilets as little as 1.6 gallons.

DID YOU KNOW?

A person uses 80-100 gallons of water a day.

A full bath uses about 36 gallons.

A 10-minute shower uses about 20 gallons.

A full washing machine uses about 15 gallons.

A dishwasher uses 4 to 10 gallons

A sprinkler uses over 1,000 gallons an hour.

To learn more:

Google “Ways to conserve water.”