Maine has historically been a place of abundant rivers and lakes with regular rainfall. By 2014, when I finished farming, the usual 1-inch weekly rainfall was becoming less frequent. It would be difficult for Maine farmers today to count on natural rainfall to irrigate 3 acres of crops as I did successfully for 10 years in Monmouth. For the last four or five years, Maine farmers have suffered through an unusual drought.
My garden in Topsham has sandy soils created in the historic flood plain of the Androscoggin River inland at least a half-mile. Rainfall filters rapidly through our soil, so we have had to water this garden often each summer, even with this wetter summer. Since water for gardens and shrubs doesn’t need to be drinking quality, we decided to collect water running off our roof through gutters into rain barrels on three corners of the house. With half an inch of rain, we collect 50 gallons in each barrel. My husband and I then submerge watering cans in each barrel and take it to the adjacent garden. This is good exercise and saves money on both water and sewer bills. If you practice conserving water and use rain barrels for shrubs and gardening, you can potentially lower both sewer and water bills, since sewer bills are based on amount of water delivered.
To learn about local water use, I visited the Brunswick & Topsham Water District’s new water filtration plant at 276 River Road in Topsham. General Manager Craig Douglas showed me a map of the district’s service area, which includes seven wells and three treatment plants. District water comes from two treatment plants in Brunswick and one in Topsham. Seven million gallons of storage capacity split between a tank on Topsham Heights and a tank off Church Road in Brunswick have the capacity to supply almost three days of customer use with gravity feed if electricity is out.
I asked Craig how vulnerable the storage, distribution and availability of the water system is to strong winds, drought, heavier rainfall and other aspects of climate change. Redundancy has been built into the three pipes across the Androscoggin River connecting the two towns’ distribution systems, so water can move easily into and out of the distribution system from both sides of the river. If one cross-river pipeline is washed out by high water level in the Androscoggin River, the other two pipelines can continue sharing between Brunswick and Topsham wells and storage tanks.
Craig is confident that redundancy in the system and good emergency-planning procedures will continuously provide treated water to Brunswick and Topsham homes. Craig’s repair staff carried chain saws in their pickups prior to Hurricane Lee’s arrival to quickly clear trees blocking road access to infrastructure. If power is out for several days, generators are in place to keep the water supply flowing. Gravity and generators will allow distribution to water users without tapping the three days’ worth of emergency supplies in the storage tanks.
The benefits of reducing individual homeowners’ water use are in saving processing time and distribution costs of treated water. Craig asks residents of Brunswick and Topsham to keep our watersheds uncontaminated by reducing their use of excessive pesticides, herbicides and fertilizers in our yards and camps. Southern California and residents in the dry, hot Southwest have reduced their water use dramatically by landscape planting of plants and shrubs that can survive with little rainfall. They plant xeriscapic shrubs, yucca, cacti and succulents that retain water and need little maintenance, yet flower and provide attractive yards.
Bathing, washing clothes and dishes, and watering during the morning are good areas in which to consider adding water conservation practices. I show my gratitude for clean, abundant water supplies by taking short showers with the flow rate turned low and using a low-flow shower head. When on vessels with limited fresh water supplies, American marines and Navy employees wet themselves, turn off the water to soap up, then turn the water on again to rinse. This works in the summer in Maine or any time with heated bathrooms. Doing one large load of laundry instead of two smaller loads saves water and wear on your washing machine.
Camp cooking has taught me to use a minimal amount of soapy water for washing pots and pans. I pile them on the side of the sink, then use rinse water on several items. You probably already turn off water when shaving or brushing teeth and put drinking water bottles in the refrigerator to cool, rather than running the faucet until the water is cool. If you have leaks in your toilet or faucet, please fix them. When you replace a dishwasher or hot water tank, get water-efficient replacements. Efficiency Maine has large rebates for hot water tanks run with heat pumps that use little electricity, dehumidify and save up to $500 annually on electricity. Go to efficiencymaine.gov to find the store rebates for all users, with larger amounts for low-income homeowners.
When watering a garden or flower bed, water in the morning when water can soak in and not evaporate quickly in the sun. Overhead sprinklers lose much of their water evaporating to the air, and don’t give deep, long-lasting penetration. The best method of home irrigation during a dry period is to string drip irrigation hoses around the base of shrubs and trees with small holes emitting water into the soil. I used 50- and 100-foot-long permanent drip hoses effectively at Sebasco Harbor Resort to water large perennial gardens. Frustrated with thunderstorms that watered neighboring areas but frequently bypassed my yard, I invested in a 50-foot drip hose for the vegetable garden. Although only using it twice this summer, I am prepared for any future dry periods in summer.
Craig is confident Brunswick and Topsham’s ground water and well capacity will be sufficient for the foreseeable future. It’s worth adopting water-saving habits to save money on your water and sewer bills, to extend the life of your appliances, and to reduce the amount of water BTWD needs to process daily.
Nancy Chandler studied Animal Behavior and Anthropology at Stanford University, then received her master’s in biology education in her home state of North Carolina at U.N.C. Chapel Hill. She is passionate about teaching energy conservation and hopes to get you thinking about how to use energy use efficiently to save both money and reduce greenhouse warming gases.
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