About 103 Fenways per day

Here’s a question from Beatrice in Duluth,Minnesota:

I’ve been hearing a lot about living closer to the land and conserving water. What’s the best way for me to calculate my “water footprint?”

That’s an excellent question, Beatrice – and perfect timing too!

Not too long ago I ventured off deep into the swamp with the very same question in mind when – low and behold – my boot got stuck in the muck of a dry season low-water hole, better known in these parts as “dry season refugia.”

Not to worry: There weren’t any gators in sight and just as quickly I was able to pull my boot free.

That’s when I noticed the deep print my foot left behind in the muck ever so slowly begin to fill with water.

By my calculations – 12 inches long by 5 inches wide by 5 inches deep – my footprint eventually filled up about 300 square inches of water, or in more common volumetric terms: About 5 quarts.

Incidentally, that equates to exactly how much water I drink per day in the hot Florida sun.

– Just not out of my swampy boot print!

Send your water questions to The South Florida Watershed Journal: “If it’s wet, flows downhill, or falls from the sky – we’re generally interested!”

My water bill (plus sewer) costs me around $900 per year.

That’s for an average household usage
of 5,000 gallons per month.

While it may seem
sort of expensive at first:

It is quite a bit of water.

Per month we go through 120 water barrels (42.5 gallons each) and per year we use 5 swimming pool equivalents …

That’s going by the lap pool in my back yard. Measuring in at 15’ wide x 30’ long x 3.5’ deep, it holds around 12,000 gallons.)

Now imagine I had to order all that water to my house
by truck delivery (at the going rate of $9 per 5 gallon jug) instead …

That adds up to $108,000 per year.

Talk about a a big “jump” in prices!