Going Green: 5 Ways to Recycle Baby Pool Water
I’m taking green baby steps by trying to utilize our pool water. Last year I dumped Grace’s used pool water into the grass without a second thought. Now that I have a garden and some flowers it feels foolish to dump it out and not use it.
After brainstorming here are 5 ways that I can use our old pool water this summer:
1) Water Garden & Flowers – This is the most obvious answer for me. If I’m going to be watering these plants anyway, I might as well use this water.
2) Water House Plants – How hard is it to carry some water into the house instead of using it from the tap in the kitchen? Apparently, it is pretty darn hard since I haven’t done it yet! Hopefully, I can change that.
3) Wash Car – Of course this would mean that I have to actually wash the car. *ahem*
4) Wash Patio/Lawn/Deck Furniture – I have some white furniture that could use a regular scrubbing and Grace’s pool water would work great.
Why do so many of these options involve washing something???
5) Flush the Toilet – *jaw drop* Nate just agreed to give this a try. I thought he would say I am crazy. I’m so excited that I’m actually going to run out to her pool and try it RIGHT NOW!! (even though it is 9:30 PM!)
*insert hold music here*
I just went out to Grace’s pool with a large pitcher & my strainer. I used the strainer to be sure I wasn’t bringing leaves and gunk into the toliet.
And now the back of my toilet looks like this:
Simply do your business and dump a full pitcher of water into the toilet bowl. The toilet will flush without needing to use any of the water from the tank. The more water you use, the more powerful the flush.
How did I know this would work? I’ve spent quite a bit of time overseas in areas that required skills like this.
What other things could I use Grace’s pool water for?
I’m linking this to Healthy 2Day Wednesdays at Day2Day Joys.
Great tips! Never really thought about recycling the kiddie pool water! You should add this to the Healthy 2day Wednesdays link up.
Thanks for the encouragement to link up, Rachel. 🙂
i love this! i think we think a lot alike as i’m always trying to figure out how to re-use water. my hubs laughs and thinks i’m ridiculous to go to all that work… but it’s a fun challenge for me. 🙂 i never thought of washing the car like that. that’s a great idea! i wish i had a pool full of water right now because my car really needs it.
Please let me know if you have other suggestions for recycling gray water. Honestly, this was my only attempt. Like you, I thought it was fun, but hubby thought I was a little nuts. 🙂
Using for toilet water—hilarious. I never thought of that and that’s about the only thing on your list I haven’t tried. I guess that’s next on the list. My only problem with using pool water is: I always have way more than I need. I would have to have a lot of plants to water and it would ned to be drought conditions for me to use all the water! I’ll see what my husband think of the toilet idea.
Yeah, the toilet idea certainly isn’t for everyone. My mom thinks I’ve lost my mind.
Like you, I tend to have way too much water left over. That means that I end up keeping the pool sitting around as I try to use it up day after day. Really that isn’t good. Not only is it a major safety hazard, it can also start growing things like bacteria and bugs. Not cool. I need to find a balance between making the most of my left over water and letting it get out of hand.
I think we have the same ceramic tile! Just wanted to point that out. 🙂
(Also, great tips for reusing water! My husband always has to remind me not to dump my old drinking water but to feed it to the plants instead!)
Kristy, I don’t tend to me so good about reusing my water. You’ll have to send me more of your husbands tips! 🙂
We have an inflatable sprinkler pool. My garden sits down hill. I always like to use it above the garden and let all the water run down hill into the garden. When we empty it the water rolls into the garden, too. Granted… I have a HUGE garden this year so it takes a lot of water to keep it going.
That is perfect, Dorothy!
What a genius tip on using the water to flush the toilet with!
I grew up in a hot climate and always had to be mindful of how we used our water supply in the summer.
Nice blog, by the way!
Blessings,
This Good Life
My mother thinks I’m crazy. I’m glad you were inspired. haha!
Awesome! I’ve been using the water to water plants. I’ll admit though – it didn’t start out as a green initiative but out of laziness! It is so difficult to hook up our hose so it reaches the plants that it is easier to walk watering cans of water all around the house.
Going green out of laziness! I love it. It sounds like a good blog idea. Especially since most people think that going green is a lot of work. You should run with it! (Except that I can’t think of any other post ideas. haha!)
I saw a tip about setting your plants (like the hanging ones) down into the pool if you are going out of town for a few days. But just a few because of what (like you said) can breed in there. Our yard has a high fence so we do not have to worry about kids coming in to the yard. We fill it with just a few inches then the house sitter can put that in the garden plants and replace the few inches of water. We just keep the little pool around for nieces and nephews and to give the dog a bath if we need to so we do not usually get to reuse that water since it is only used a few times a year.
Beth, that is a great idea! You make a great point though about needing to have a fence for that kind of thing. Leaving water in our pool makes me nervous. 🙁
We usually water our berry bushes this way, and sometimes the other gardens. We have enough gardens so that all the water is used up even if the kids use the pool every day. My husband uses the hose as a siphon so it’s very little work. Plus…we have the same pool as you. 😉
I never tried to use the hose as a siphon! How do you do that?
That’s why it’s my husband’s job. 😉 Here’s a how to: http://www.ehow.com/how_5017011_use-garden-hose-syphon.html
Remember that the pool has to be higher than where you want the water to flow out!
Well, I have 4 big dogs, so I usually use the pool water to give them a bath. I put them in there, get them soak, shampoo them and give them a first rinse, and then a final rinse with the hose. If the shampoo its safe for the plants I can still use the water to water the garden. PD: Sorry for my english 🙂
That is a great idea, Carolina!!
hahahaToilet water! love it! I usually tarp the pool and keep it covered so I can get two days out of it 🙂