TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — When Jacqueline Ballantyne uses the washer at her house, she uses water she harvested from rainwater.
However, it’s not like a regular washer. She goes outside and does it “the old fashioned way”, using a plunger and a washing board.
“Water conservation is vital. We live in the middle of the desert,” she said.
She’s a water harvester and said instead of using water from Lake Mead, Tucson should be using local natural resources.
That’s why she uses an outdoor shower, so the water from it can flow down into the plants in her garden.
The garden uses a unique system of basins.
“When it rains and the barrel really overflows, it runs through a series of these basins and then outflows through the low point in the garden,” Ballantyne said about her water barrels that are connected to gutters and use rainwater.
She also uses a toilet with a sink on top, which helps to recycle and conserve water.
Ballantyne said the City of Tucson paid her to take free classes to conserve water at her house.
She said Governor Hobbs should continue to educate the public about saving water.
“We have to conserve what we have if we’re going to maintain clean, good quality drinking water,” Ballantyne said.
Hobbs is creating an office to address water issues at the local, state, and regional levels.
This comes as Arizona is cutting 21 percent of its water from the Colorado River.
Hobbs is also hoping to modernize the state’s groundwater to prevent groundwater poaching and is hoping to put money towards aquifers in rural areas.
Marilyn Civer also tries her best to conserve water. She uses a low flow toilet, appliances that use little water, and doesn’t sweep up leaves so the ground keeps in water longer.
She said Hobbs is doing a good job and said she is hoping she addresses the amount of water farms use.
“Some of the farms need to be reevaluated as to perhaps growing different crops that are not so water intensive,” Civer said.
Civer also uses pavers in her backyard so that water can flow from the ground and into the roots of her mesquite tree.
She said conserving water isn’t hard and said people should be conscious of the appliances they buy so that they can choose ones that use less water
“I think that paying attention to what you buy, paying attention to the time that you use water,” Civer said about how to save more water.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
