Read the full transcript of James Peters’ talk titled “Residential Water Recycling and the Unexpected Benefits” at TEDxMissouriS&T 2024 conference.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
A Life-Changing Moment
JAMES PETERS: Let me take you back to a moment that changed my life. I was in New York City standing in front of the Social Enterprise Network as part of the World Presidents Organization, and I was there to share my passion for solving the water crisis. But what happened next was unexpected. I was required to stand in front of the entire group, cover my heart and pledge that I would stick with it and do whatever necessary to solve the water crisis. Yikes.
It was a moment of truth. It was a commitment that would shape my journey. On that journey, I thought a lot about what Winston Churchill said. He said, “The further back we look, the further forward we can see.” So in order to understand how we might solve the water crisis here today and into the future, we need to look back 40 years.
The Water Crisis: A 40-Year Perspective
40 years ago, there were no cell phones nor single-use water bottles. We just started the blue bin recycling program that 94% of us still support today as part of our daily routine and culture. During that period, our population doubled. But here’s the real shocker: while the population doubled, our water demand quadrupled. Imagine if we simply included water in our recycling efforts back then, we’d all be living in a radically different world today.
If 40 years ago was the best time to start, imagine you can figure out the second best time is now. Do you know what a water outage is? 3 of the cities I’ve lived in have run out of water, and they’re all in North America.
Most of us have experienced a power outage and know the frustration of being without electricity. Well, I can tell you, running out of water is a whole other thing.
We initially panic, go into survival mode. No showers. No washing our hands. No flushing our toilet. We’re literally out of water.
The Water Bankruptcy
Were we water bankrupt? 12 years ago, I read an article by a local pastor that said just 12% of the population of the world is using up 85% of the available drinking water. We’re wasting half of it, running out, and fighting over it. Further investigation revealed that in those cities, they use 50% of their energy to process, treat, move around and send back that wasted water. It’s grossly inefficient and definitely unsustainable.
After realizing the depths of the crisis, I found myself dedicated to making a difference. Standing in front of the World Presidents’ Organization and pledging to make a difference and take action was my pivotal moment. After 12 years of study and design, the equivalent of 3 PhDs, I realized that the common approach of increasing prices and penalties and fines had only made water exclusive for those that could afford it. And the consumption continued to rise. Clearly, that approach wasn’t working.
A New Approach: Gamifying Water Conservation
So we took a radically different approach. Positive encouragement. We made water and water conservation inclusive with a gamified recycling initiative that offers awards and rewards, like, $100 a month, $1100 once a year for participants saving water, electricity, and money altogether. So water recycling gamified. Reminds me of what J.D. Rockefeller said:
“I’d rather have 1% of a 100 people’s efforts than 100% of my own.”
Together, we can make this happen. Here’s the good news. The good news is the solution is simple, and it already exists. For 40 years, we’ve embraced recycling paper and plastic and glass.
Introducing Water Recycling Bins
Now it’s time to extend that habit to water. Introducing the world’s first recycling bins for water, and these are normally stacked up like this so you can see them all together, but these are the world’s first recycling bins for water. They’re also known as the shower pot. Again, looking back, our great grandparents would put a pot in the shower to save from running out. Back then, they used between 5-10 gallons per person per day.
Today, 176. That’s a factor of 32 times. That’s water demand up 3,200 percent. A water crisis is simply when the demand outweighs the supply. We’re all in a water crisis.
The first one is the white grayish bed. This rescues the better than bottled water while we wait for our shower to warm up. So let’s warm up our shower. So what we’ll warm up our shower. This water can be used for drinking, cooking, or making your coffee.
May, repurposing something that was formerly thrown away into a valuable resource. Now that this water is warmed up, we remove it from our shower and save it. It’s pristine tap water. Save it for after our shower. And we simply get into our always warm shower with our gray recycling bin.
Now the better than bottled water is all I’ve drunk in 9 years. No bottles of bottled water. All I’ve made my coffee with for 8. Now that we’ve got 2 gallons of rescued water, we can flush our toilet with it. This is a conventional low flow toilet with one relatively simple water crisis hack that we can accomplish in only a few minutes and free with a little help from our city and a bit of information from the nonprofit foundation website at showerpot.org.
This toilet is not hooked up to any water source, thus uses 0 tap water, and we flush it just like we would normally flush a toilet. However, the only trick is probably the most important and easiest recycling you’ll do, just flush your toilet with water that would have normally gone down the drain. Now it breaks my heart to use better than bottled water. As I mentioned, it’s all I drink for 9 years. So this is precious.
Of all the water on earth, less than 1% of it is drinkable. What right have we got to flush our toilets with it or waste it down the drain? What I really advocate, and I think is really the way to do it, is to use gray water. And this is gray water. I just had my shower in that.
And by the way, my present shower is tracking at about net 2 gallons down the drain versus 10 to 25 gallons. And I don’t even shut the shower off when I soap up. This isn’t a military thing. I turn the shower on when I start to warm up my shower. I step into my always warm shower.
I soap up and wash off from head to toe, rinse off. No sacrificing. No rushing. Just my daily routine for several years now. So again, gray water, flush our toilet, no city tap water, and the magic of recycling water is simply to use water that was destined to go down the drain, and that’s it.
Oh, finally, we’ve got the green bin. This bin is designed to be used outside of our homes. It rescues or harvests rainwater or water that our air conditioners make. Free for outside use or flushing our toilet. 30% of the water we use or consume is outside of our homes.
They’re all accomplished with 22 additional simple water crisis hacks also on the nonprofit website. They’re all simple and effective ways to repurpose and utilize the water we have. Imagine if we all lived in a world where we use water recycling bins and invited water into our recycling efforts. We’d cut our consumption in half. The cities would reduce their energy consumption potentially by half, bringing us all halfway to net 0 2050, which is what we’re all obligated to do.
A Call to Action
And reminds me, Steve Jobs said “The world will be changed by those crazy enough to believe they can.” Well, I’ll tell you, many years during my journey, people have looked at me like I’m crazy. Like, I have a horn growing out of my head or something, and I say, “No. No horn.” Thank goodness this one is dry.
And I’m not a unicorn. However, I am part Dutch, and the rest is Norwegian, determined to find a better way. Water recycling bins, they’re a constant and elegant reminder to conserve. Let’s rethink and reclaim and above all, reuse. Join us by simply calling your city or water department and asking them to deliver water recycling bins to your community.
And if they’re unaware, pledge to help them find out. And together, we can make this vision a reality.
