Jodi/Lightening

Opal – I am surprised to hear that – usually in the US everyone has a big Maytag top loader or something.

Univiction – Water heating is something which wastes a lot of water because the water is not hot when you turn on the tap. I recently saw they have invented something to fix that, but I can’t remember what it was called.

Tex – You’ll want to make sure to get the front loader, not the top loader. My uncle had a property which used dam water and I understand how your wife feels about that. Clean water is such a blessing – but if we don’t consider how much we use, we might all end up with brown bore water someday! ;(

I’ll be back a little later with more comment replies – there are so many for this post! Thanks everyone, I appreciate it.
Snoskred

After a campaign on front loaders, how about one on dryers. Why so many dryers in the US and Australia, where the weather is generally pretty good for much of the year. I wrote about this earlier.

River – I agree that many people can’t afford to throw out their top loader – however can we as a country afford to let the people who can’t afford to throw out their top loader use that amount of water?

I think governments have to get involved here as well as councils and water authorities. In NSW they have a $150 rebate which is given to people who purchase a 4 star water efficient machine. This means that the purchase rate of front loaders has soared here. That is one good way to help people to make the right decisions rather than make excuses.

I also think the price of excess water needs to go way, way up. When the electricity prices rose in Adelaide, residents looked for ways to save money with their electricity.

Back in a sec with more!

Teeni – It is wonderful to hear that they are becoming more common in the US. I always leave the door open of mine – it is a common front loader issue because if the water needs to be able to evaporate into the air – if there’s no fresh air it can’t do that.

I think the Japanese bathroom idea sounds brilliant – they have a lot of great stuff there including socks which never smell – and scented socks too! How do they keep all this stuff to themselves? Is it that they think the rest of the world won’t pay for the same things? Hands up anyone who would NOT buy socks which never smell? That’s right, we all would.

Sueblimely – we do have a lot of space in Australia which is one reason top loaders are more popular, sadly. Great work on reducing the water consumption – I bet the electricity consumption dropped too, right?

Kin – because I use so much less detergent, I spend a little extra and get the TriNature detergent which smells incredible and lasts for ages. I had a 2kg bucket which lasted a YEAR.. I was stunned.

Kirsten – Some landlords are so short sighted. But yay for buying a house! I’m excited for you. I love those tv shows where they take people through houses, I love looking at houses, I should work in real estate, maybe.

Back in a moment with more replies – else it gets too long!

This trickle-down or “on-flow” approach to water use allows for 3 or 4 uses and can displace far more than just the outlay for a frontload machine.
Of course you could install waterless toilets in lieu of the existing sewer connected one, and collect rainwater or greywater or a combined system or a “Nubian” type water reprocessor without getting much change from $6000.00 plus $360 per year servicing and quality review (it is after all a miniature water processing plant and a might complex compared to a washing machine).
So I do not wish to insult your public courtesy in the blog, but as in all things in life there are practical alternatives. There is an excellent free book put out by the Victorian Women’s Trust on the water issues in Australia which gives a much fuller and broader dimension to the water and drought issues facing Australia, published 2007

Victorian Women’s Trust
L1 388 Bourke St, Melbourne 3000
tel +61 3 9642 0422 Facs +61 3 9642 0016
E: women@vwt.org.au or http://www.vwt.org.au

For instance You and readers could start to understand the amount of water used to produce 1 kilo of beefsteak (it is about 16,000 litres) ; a change of diet will save a lot more than a front loader. But that might be regarded as insulting to some.

You could look at Coombes and Kucera’s work in Newcastle Uni about raintanks in urban settings and behavioural responses: appropriate water use can really lead to many “green ” and positive consequences.
Better use of water metering and greater community “pressure” on politicians of all persuasions can make sure the changes keep happening

You makes your choices and ‘dems de breaks.