Your Mission: Behave Normally, Save Lots of Water

It's the Johnsons against the Abbotts to see which family can conserve the most water.

The two Chatham Township families are taking part in a contest through the "We're for Water" national campaign sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. During the contest, which takes place next week, the EPA will measure each family's water usage for the week and compare it to that of another week during the summer.

"(The EPA is) picking a week that we don't know about and looking at our water usage," said Kathy Abbott, who is also the chairwoman of the environmental commission in the township. "Then they're comparing it to the week that they're telling us to conserve water, which is next week. Whoever reduces the water the most in percentage wins. They're just comparing your own use to your own use before. It's a friendly competition with the Johnsons."

While taking part in the contest, each family of five is instructed to go about their daily business. The rules clearly state that each family shouldn't go out of their way to not use water or do anything they wouldn't do on an average day.

"We shouldn't do something that's not normal," said Abbott. "Like shower at the gym when you normally shower at home. (We're encouraged to) take shorter showers, we're supposed to check our toilets to see if they're leaking and to make any corrections from a repair standpoint, but still do what we'd normally do."

On Aug. 2, each family will take part in competitions to demonstrate what they have learned throughout conservation week. After the events, the winning family will be announced.

"Actually, there are two competitions," said Ann Cavuoti-Johnson. "The first one kicks off on Saturday (July 24), where both families are going to have their water meters read and measured. (July 24 begins) the week each family will be trying very hard to conserve water.

"Then the competition on August 2 will be three events; one will be the dads shaving to see who can use the least amount of water, another will be another family member showering, shampooing and rinsing their hair in three minutes, and the third competition will have two toilets set up side by side and one family member will have to see if the toilet is leaking and, if so, fix it."

One of the main reasons that the families decided to take part in the EPA's campaign is to drive home the message that water conservation is a necessity in order to preserve energy and the environment.

"Something that I thought was interesting," said Abbott, "is you save energy when you save water because any water that you're using is going down the drain and to treatment plants and has to be processed. Even if it's clean water it still has to be processed. It's (a lot more trouble than you think) when you're just running water."

"I think it's a very important message to get out there," said Cavuoti-Johnson. "Only one percent of the water on earth is usable for human consumption. Since the population is growing it's very important that we be aware of how to conserve water in limited resources."

If you would like to learn more about water conservation, you can find all you need on the EPA's Water Sense website.