Show Your Water Some Love for Valentine’s Day
February 13, 2023This Valentine’s Day, show some love to one of the most important things in your life: water!
Water is crucial to your everyday existence. It makes up between 55 percent and 78 percent of your body weight, and you literally cannot survive much more than three days without it. In fact, the Mayo clinic states that in general, everyone should aim to drink about eight glasses of water a day.
Water is crucial to life on Earth, too. The planet is about 71 percent water — but only about 2.5 percent of that is fresh water!
With such a limited supply of potentially potable water, it’s imperative that we work to conserve it. So what can you do to show water some love? Here are six ideas we love:
1. Bee mine
When landscaping, choose species native to the Lehigh Valley region. These plants were designed by nature to work best in this environment — and you’ll also attract more pollinators like bees and hummingbirds. The end result will be a healthier ecosystem.
2. I Love You So Mulch
Using wood chips or even leaves as mulch (spread it about 3” thick) provides nutrients for the soil, retains moisture (which means less watering), and suppresses weeds.
3. A Love Potion for Your Plants
Keep food waste out of the trash and start a compost pile. From coffee grounds to cucumber peels, eggshells to eggplant scraps and almost everything in between, a compost pile transforms waste into a nutrient-rich soil additive that will allow you to skip harmful chemical fertilizers that eventually end up in our water sources.
4. Melt Hearts By Melting Ice Safely
Salt and other chemicals used to melt ice on streets, driveways, parking lots, sidewalks and steps eventually ends up in storm drains, which carry runoff into waterways. Salt and other deicers damage and kill vegetation as well as endanger freshwater ecosystems and aquatic life. Use as little as possible, clear a path first (de-icers are not effective in 3 or more inches of snow), and opt for safer alternatives such as calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) or salt-based products such as potassium chloride, calcium chloride and magnesium chloride (they’re less harmful than straight salt). You can also add sand for traction.
5. Do Go Chasing Waterfalls
Dealing with a drippy faucet or a constantly running toilet? Repair leaks promptly and avoid a big water bill. Even a little leak can add up to a big waste: A shower that leaks 10 drips a minute wastes more than 500 gallons a year. A drippy faucet can send more than 3,000 gallons a year down the drain. And upgrade those old, inefficient toilets, faucets and shower heads with WaterSense-labeled models to save even more.
6. Flush with Love
The only things that belong in your toilet are what nature provides, and toilet paper. Flushing other substances such as diapers, feminine products, “disposable” wipes, Q-Tips, paper towels, etc., causes expensive clogs that you, the customer, could end up paying for. Flushing medications is a big no-no, too — water treatment systems are not designed to remove pharmaceuticals.
So, water you wading for? Use our six tips this Valentine’s Day (and every day) to show your water some love!