| Inventor: The Water Saving System | |
August 7, 2015
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| A guy in his 30s came to the inventor's office and talked about his concerns: He lived alone. One day he realized how much water he used. He took a shower every day, even twice in the summer time. He cooked and washed clothes. One day when he checked the water bill, he was surprised at how much he owed. He wondered why, and how, he used so much water for only one person; and so, he came here. "B ..but," The inventor said, "in that case, you can just narrow your tap when you take a shower, or shorten your shower time, I suppose." The man glared at the inventor and said, "Do you want to take away my pleasure? Taking a shower and having an after-shower-beer are the only fun thing in my life. I can't survive in this tough world without them. Although, I feel a little bit guilty about my second shower." The inventor said, "Ok, ok. You want to reduce water consumption without losing
After the man left, the inventor thought about people's concerns about resources, and eco-friendly policies. Nowadays, separating garbage was common. In electric appliances shops, there were a lot of types of eco-friendly machines. Electricity efficient refrigerators, LED lights, water efficient dishwashers, washing machines, etc. Maybe he didn't need to come to the inventor's office. On the other hand, there were no rules about how much energy or resources one could use. Especially the young generation, they take a shower too many times. They are too sensitive about cleanliness. He heard that his friend's son asked his mother to wash his pajamas every day after one night's use, even in the winter time. He thought about a 3-pronged of approach about the man to reduce his water usage: One: To reduce water itself. Two: To reuse or recycle water. Three: To change his lifestyle. Maybe number 3 would be the most difficult. He started to search on the Internet. One website read about a family's average usage of water: Toilet : 28% Bathing : 24% Cooking : 23% Washing Clothes : 16% Washing Face & Others : 9% Maybe his case, bathing is number 1. He continued to surf. After a couple of days, he was in the park a little away from his office. In the park, there was a pond where some carps lived, the pond was green and smelly. He drew a cup of water with a glass that he brought and looked at it, there were an uncountable amount of small algae. He took a small white tablet from his plastic bag, and put it in the water glass and shook it gently. It dissolved, and soon, the water became transparent and clear, the green things sunk to the bottom. It was dramatic. He held the glass higher so that he could see the cleanliness. There was no algae at all, completely clear water. He looked around. Nobody was there. He sipped it, there was no taste and no smell. He drank one third of it. It was just water. One week later the man came and took the machine the inventor invented. One week later, the man came back. He didn't look unsatisfied, but didn't seem happy either. He started to report the results: "The sensors were very effective. I set them on my dish sink, bathroom sink, and toilet. At the dish sink, only when I placed the dishes under the faucet, water came out. This is good because usually when I put away a dish after rinsing, no water is needed. Same when brushing my teeth. I only need water when I fill my cup. Originally, to repeat turning on and off the tap was troublesome to me and I let the water go every time. The toilet sensor was cooler. The sensor gauged the amount of my urine and controlled the right amount of water needed to properly flush. The washing machine's sensor was more elaborate. It checked the dirtiness of each piece of clothing, as well as the amount of the clothes, to control the amount of rinsing water." The inventor nodded, "Your clothes' dirtiness is rather lighter than naughty children's, of course." "Of course, and the shower." The man looked at the inventor. He nodded. The man continued: "When you asked me the size of my shower room, I wondered why. You raised the floor 20 cm and set a holding tank. And using a pump, you thought to reuse the water which I used to shower with. It was hard to believe because to purify water we need a big filtration system. But, you set only a tank and a pump. I found a small box between the tube and pump. There were chemical tablets in the box. I couldn't believe that these tablets purified the water so well. After this, I checked the maker of the tablets by reading the molded initials on the tablet. I was shocked to know that the tablets are used mainly in developing countries to purify dirty water of rivers or ponds or wherever to make pure water in order to drink or to use for cooking. When I watched the pictures of people who were in line to get pure water, I was very ashamed, and thought that I can't use this tablet for my reasons." The inventor nodded, "Yeah. Maybe this is a good time for us to think about our lifestyles again." |
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*prong: a thin sharp point of something such as a fork that has several points (L)
*algae: a plant with no stems or leaves that grows in or near water (C)
*faucet: an object at the end of a pipe which you turn to control the flow of water (C)
*mold: If you mold plastic or cray, you make it into a particular shape. (Co)