Starr County In-Home Water Conservation Participant Comments
(Continuation of Intervention Reduces Water Usage)
Household A: Education Only
The shower/bath lesson was quite educational. The seven year old felt it was an eye-opener. He said, “No more long showers for me. I will be out in a flash!” Let’s hope he remembers to clean behind his ears.
They are washing their cars at the car wash from now on. This was a Saturday event for them and they would just leave the hose running. Water would run down the street. They can now wash their cars for $1.50 a piece at the car wash.
They shut down the water to medium flow in their son’s bathroom sink. They do not hear all the splashing anymore when he washes his hands and brushes his teeth.
They all wanted to shift the blame when they realized how many gallons they used per person.
Household B: Education plus water audit
The household said that this project helped bring to light how serious the water shortage is in the Valley. “We really gained such insight in the sessions we had with Ms. Morado (Extension Agent). Our boys are quite young, 2 and 4, and I feel we can start early on teaching them how to conserve water.”
They took some serious steps to cut back on evaporation from the family pool. They enjoyed the Web site links provided. It gave them another opportunity to pick up some useful tips.
Household C: Education, Water Audit, Retrofit Plumbing
They had relatives that came to their house last year and stayed through January.
One of the best things they have learned was hot to read their water bill. They are currently putting in a public sewer system in their area and when the household attended the water district meeting, they were able to understand how much their water bill would increase due to the new service.
Their teenager moved back home after college and their water bill reflects that.
Last fall their washing machine was broke and they had to go to the laundry mat. They had no idea how much water a washing machine used until they did a water audit.
