Standing in a bone-dry creek bed in Joshua Tree last fall flipped my view on 'saving water' at home

Seeing that cracked earth where a stream should have been made me finally install a greywater system for my washing machine, which saves about 40 gallons a week, but I'm wondering if anyone else has found a specific moment that pushed them from worry into a concrete, small action?

4 comments

4 Comments

hall.joel2mo ago

Guess that's one way to get your laundry done.

hannah4002mo ago

Read about a similar creek bed moment.

victorh812mo ago

Yeah, my buddy had that happen last fall. He was hiking in what looked like a totally dry wash, blue skies overhead, and out of nowhere this wall of muddy water just came rushing down from a storm miles away. He barely scrambled up the side in time. It really showed how fast things can change out there.

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olivia_moore1d ago

Did you have that feeling where you just couldn't unsee it? I had a similar moment last year at a reservoir near my place. It was down maybe 60 feet from where the high water mark clearly used to be. I'd read about drought numbers before, but seeing that bathtub ring of white rock around the edge, so high above the water, made it real in a way nothing else did. I ended up buying a cheap rain barrel and a soaker hose that same week. It's not much, barely enough for a few tomato plants, but it feels way better than watching that water run down the street. That one sight of the dry reservoir just stuck with me and I had to do something.