The water table is dropping and wells started going dry in a few rural communities last year. People have even been caught siphoning water illegally from canals and irrigation ditches. Someone just a few houses away actually poured concrete into the street with the notion of making a dam in the gutter adjacent to the sidewalk. The apparent scheme was to pump rainwater from the miniature dam into the backyard to irrigate his garden. Neighbors scratched their heads in disbelief and pondered, "But if it's raining, he doesn’t need to water!" Aside from the fact that he would also be pumping up grass clippings, cigarette butts, dandelion seeds, and other debris from the gutter into his tomato patch. Well, it was a moot point; the city was quick to order him to remove his little enterprise. Meanwhile, wiser folks have set up barrels under downspouts to collect rainwater and installed grey-water recovery systems for watering.

Our home is literally being taken over by buckets to save the precious water we once took for granted. Nowadays, when friends drop by for a visit they don't find evidence of our bucket brigade strange at all; we're all in the same boat and the river is running dry. There's one bucket designated for the bathroom, two in the kitchen, plus one large bucket just outside the garage door that Mike fills from the other buckets throughout the day. There are also two buckets reserved for cleaning the aquarium. Our routines revolve around carrying water buckets to give our trees and other plants a drink; much of it is non-potable which used to just go down the drain.

It all started with one bucket in the kitchen to save the cold water as it heated up to wash the dishes. Actually seeing that bucket fill up with what used to disappear down the pipes was a sobering experience. I feel compelled to interject that our cats prefer drinking out of the fresh water bucket over their own bowl. I suspect they will be disappointed when there is no longer a need for this convenient watering-hole. Since the cats have established that they rule the house, I can foresee this bucket becoming a permanent fixture on their behalf.

We had already been hand-washing dishes daily in a small tub in the sink rather than run the dishwasher for just the two of us. Last year we decided we could get by with washing dishes every two or three days. The dishwasher gets filled once a month just to keep it in good working order.

There was a time when we rinsed the dishes off before stacking them in the tub, sluicing food particles and dirty water down the sink. A second bucket has found a home in the kitchen to capture that water, too. We also wash our hands over it. I haul those buckets outside to water the plants in containers. My plants haven't articulated how they like bits of vegetables, bread crumbs, and whatever else was on the menu that day, including our felines' contributions of canned cat food morsels. But, so far, they are thriving.

The bathroom is another area where numerous adjustments are possible. Many fellow Californians keep a bucket in the shower these days. Mike and I discussed this and were dismayed at the challenge of collecting a significant amount of water as it sprays all over the shower stall. We have two bathrooms that share plumbing through a common wall. The guest bathroom has a bathtub, but our master bath only has a shower. Mike reasoned that he could run water directly into a bucket as it heated from the faucet in the bathtub and have hot water ready to go in our shower. Once the water is up to temperature, he shuts it off, I turn on the shower and we both jump in under the low-flow shower head (about 2 - 2.5 gallons per minute as opposed to 5 gallons per minute). And indeed … showering together saves water (if you promise not to get distracted and keep track of the time). Besides, it's a bonus having somebody available scrub your back. If you're really disciplined enough, you can even turn the water off while lathering up.

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