What's the point of using drinkable water for anything other than drinking or cooking?

[raccoon]

I'm talking about household water here, including water used for watering lawns.

I took that for granted all my life. Until I went on a mission trip in Honduras. I'll never
think about water in the same way again.

If you're a young person, I think in your lifetime you'll see that change. (I don't guess you
have to be Nostradamus to predict that one.)

[cbayer]

1. People don't really get it until their personal supply is limited.

We carry 120 gallons, which can last us a month or longer. We use salt water to do a lot of things, like wash dishes, and use the fresh water only for the final rinse.

It makes me crazy when I visit land based friends who just let the water run and run, run their dishwashers and clothes washers with just a few things in them and take long showers.

And don't get me started on watering lawns and swimming pools!

[deaniac21]

2. I only use Gatorade.

[dtexdem]

5. But showering with Gatorade only works for football coaches.

;-)

[eppur_se_muova]

19. Brawndo is better. nt

[jmowreader]

21. It has what your hair craves! It has electrolytes!

On the very long list of things one should not do, bathing or washing your car in a sports drink are real high on the list.

I think there are three reasons why you wouldn't want to have both potable and non-potable water available to residences. The obvious one is the cost of running a second piping system to bring the non-potable water into your neighborhood--yes, industrial users in certain areas have non-potable water available but it's not everywhere. The second is, would you want to risk your contractor's lowest-bidder plumber feeding non-potable water into your faucets and potable into the laundry room and outdoor faucets? The third, of course, is you know some kid is going to drink out of the non-potable system and get sicker than shit.

[NightWatcher]

3. So far this year, Texas has wasted 15+ Billion gallons of fresh water on fracking

[pintobean]

4. I don't care to bathe in sewage.

I'm sure the people downstream don't care to bathe in mine.
Treated water controls disease.

[dtexdem]

7. But water recovered from rain can be used for many purposes, ...

especially for watering plants.

[raccoon]

8. Very black and white thinking there. Just because water isn't safe to drink doesn't mean it has to

be full of sewage.

[pintobean]

10. Maybe the OP should have been more detailed.

I replied to what you posted.

[slackmaster]

6. Don't you guys wash everything in it more or less compulsively?

[HereSince1628]

9. Well, I personally prefer washing my dishes and kitchenware

with potable water for several reasons that stem from the reality that the only non-potable water available in my house is held in the bowl of my toilet.

Clearly the value of water varies with situation and circumstance.

[closeupready]

11. Water is a renewable resource. At least, it is in New York State. No need to conserve.

At least, no need to go to any extra lengths in the absence of a local drought.

[Codeine]

12. Because maintaining separate plumbing and treatment systems

for different classes of water would be tremendously inefficient, not to mention potentially very dangerous. Non-potable water would almost certainly end up regularly contaminating treated drinking supplies.

Far batter to simply treat all water and try to use it as efficiently and non-wastefully as is possible.

[FedUpWithIt All]

13. We don't. We use collected rainwater for our bathing, washing...

Cooking, teeth brushing and drinking are the only reasons we use potable water.

[dmallind]

14. more efficient to run and maintain one supply line. nt.

[WheelWalker]

15. I commend your consciousness.

Blessings.

[bvar22]

16. Because the Spring Water most people buy in the store...

...bubbles up out of the ground in the back yard,
so we use it for everything from drinking, to bathing, to irrigating the garden.
Thats one of the reasons we moved here (Ouachita Mtns, Arkansas),
but we don't take it for granted.
After the HEAT/DROUGHT of this Summer,
we were thankful everyday.
Without the Spring/Well, living here would be impossible.

We also use rain barrel collection, and will be adding more barrels this Winter.
If water becomes a problem,
we will divert the bath water/washing machine discharge to the garden,
but currently, that would cost more and be more trouble than it would be worth.

[canoeist52]

17. I've heard it explained that we're all drinking dinosaur piss.

Water is part of a cycle that been circulating for since the beginning of the earth.

[blindpig]

18. Why profits, of course.

It's the capitalism.

[eppur_se_muova]

20. "Green" designers/engineers/architects distinguish between pure water. "gray" water, and "black" ..

http://www.earthship.net/water