Do you know how much water you consume?

Water meter

Well, we didn’t know either. Until yesterday. We have been on the hunt for a water meter, “Agua contador”, usually available in a “Fontanero” (Plumbing shop). Gardening, as in Scandinavia, is a growing industry here in Spain, so we found what we looked for in a nearby shop. Reason for actually wanting to know what you consume is less of an interest to the average western world consumer (except California), but for example here in Lanzarote 100% of the water is produced by desalination plants, transforming seawater to fresh water, eg water does cost (about 5 € / 1000 liter), and every liter requires oil powered desalination plants to deliver.
Besides saving the world and saving €’s -on Tina Princess we have an old fashioned, 19th century, tank measurement device, attached to a single, 1400 liter tank. As the device is a floating sensor, it easily gets “stuck”, and in addition the tank is not a cubic tank, meaning the reading on our tank meter is a bit of guesswork. In summary, we face a risk of suddenly being without water. Therefore we are now happy Gardena customers of their water meter. Reasonably priced, € 18, it gives us the pleasure of knowing how much a shower, dish wash, cloth wash, etc. actually draws. In addition we know to the deciliter precision what is left in the tank 🙂 By the way – Eva requires 5.1 liters of fresh water for a shower – in case you wonder 🙂