Low Flow Water Fixtures | A Philosophical Point of View
With all the talk about conservation of natural resources these days, you might think that we would evaluate the choices in our homes and make adjustments. Unfortunately, many of our plumbing fixtures consume large amounts of water. This is mainly a function of older designs that did not pay much attention to these newer concerns over waste. Like many areas of our lives, we paid little attention to consumption issues until the past decade or so. The whole debate over global warming, no matter how you align yourself, has brought a new awareness to many areas of our lives. Energy use and consumption is another area where we have almost been forced to wake up and pay attention. Gone are the days of the huge SUVs and green lawns in the middle of the desert. Well, they aren’t gone, but there are some serious consequences that we are paying because of our sense our need for these things.
Before we go off in a tangent too far in that direction, let’s steer back to the discussion about low flow water fixtures. The thing is, the reason that we are even having this discussion is because of the larger global challenges, but it is only because we have neglected these needs for too long. It isn’t that the water shortage issue is one that we have never addressed, just one that makes more sense in light of our heightened interest in all things green as we move toward a more sustainable living planet.
These issues of saving water and saving natural resources should not be seen as political talking points but as real world issues that we should all be addressing in our homes. Take energy for example. Let’s just pretend that we really wanted something that was in the Middle East and we really needed it for our economy to function, would it be worth fighting wars over? Would we be better off if we developed technologies that allowed us to drastically reduce our need for those important resources from overseas? The same arguments can be made for water conservation. These are global issues that are addressed first individually or locally.
A sustainable home functions by striking a balance between our constructed world and the natural world. Anytime that we can make the man-made one create less of an impact on the natural one, we have made one more step in creating a more sustainable life. So, think about this each time you flush your toilet or take shower. If each time you flush the toilet, you use more water than is absolutely necessary to empty the bowl, that water needs to be processed much more heavily, requiring more energy and chemicals. Long showers are not only annoying to the other people in your household, they are also annoying to the planet. Having to make more fresh water is not an easy task.