A Deva Finds Sustainable Water Practices

Eric Kipp became politically active in Santa Cruz, California in the late sixties and early seventies. He is an avid and eclectic reader of scientific and spiritual literature across many disciplines.

Taking on Water
How One Water Expert Challenged Her Inner Hypocrite, Reduced Her Water Footprint (without sacrificing a toasty shower), and Found Nirvana
by Wendy J Pabich
Sasquatch Books,2012
256 pages, hardcover, $21.95
ISBN-13: 978-1-57061-831-4

Reviewed by Eric Kipp

I think I am under the influence of a deva, a water deva. The dictionary refers to a deva as either a god that is essentially benevolent, or, an evil spirit. The distinction resides in whether you are speaking respectively, of a deva in the Hindu, or, Zoroastrian tradition. I think I am referring to a benevolent spirit that is influencing me. She refers to herself as a water deva. Her name is Wendy Pabich, and she is certainly having a marked effect on me and my water usage.

Wendy is a remarkable individual. She is an environmental scientist, who has taught at MIT and the Sierra Institute, and who has a Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from MIT, an MS in Geology from Duke. She also has a web site called WaterDeva.com.

Wendy wrote a book, called “Taking on Water,” it is a wonderful and joyous little book about her and her husband’s attempts to learn about and then modify their own personal water use patterns over the period of about a year and a half.

The joyous part is important (to me at least). Some books about being a good citizen on planet earth speak of personal sacrifice and sometimes these books can offer up a feeling of guilty “must do” drudgery. Not so with the water deva, she is simply determined to do the best she can to use less water, while still having a “toasty shower” when desired. I found myself liking her, her dog, and her husband, too.

“Taking on Water” begins with Wendy, the Water Deva, in a wrathful state about the family water usage. “I am the Water Deva for Christ’s sake!” They, as a family, had consumed 30,000 gallons of water in a high alpine desert area of Idaho in a month! Staying with the Hindu tradition, Holy Cow!

Our friendly deity goes on a mission. What can be done, what is not needed, what is leaking, what can be improved, where are the drips really turning into torrents? She does research, and she really digs into water use. She immerses herself, so to speak, in the concepts of waste water, and gray water, and how to discard less water and reuse more.

Remember our determined deity, the Water Deva, is highly educated. In fact, she is an engineer. She looks into kitchen appliances, dishwashing techniques, laundry, and yes ... never forget, toasty showers, which for her are a very serious issue. She looks into gray water for gardening, and the various laws and regulations about that activity. It turns out municipalities have rules about that sort of thing. Who knew?

She speaks of our water footprint. I have heard of our carbon footprint, but not a water footprint. They are similar concepts: “indirect water use” is a consequence of a huge variety of relatively unconscious consumer decisions. This water footprint can be widened and deepened by many kinds of economic activities, or purchases, the brand of coffee we drink, the wine we enjoy, the type of weave of the sheets we use, and many more such items. This one concept was a steep learning curve for me. If you want a quick bite of information about your water footprint try WaterFootprint.org which is mentioned in the book as a resource for many of the author’s statements about how much water it takes to produce various commodities. As one example, the Deva states that in one month her household indirectly consumed 5,500 gallons of water, which was the amount of water that was required to produce the amount of almonds they actually consumed that month. There are many more examples and illustrations of how this idea works in the book and on the web site.

Possibly the single most interesting and illuminating part of the book for me was the section explaining that water, in our culture, is not commoditized. This results in a sort of generalized idea that therefore it, water, is free.

“The paradox of Value, classically presented by the philosopher Adam Smith in ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations’ (1776) stipulates: ‘The things which have the greatest value in use have frequently little or no value in exchange; on the contrary, those which have the greatest value in exchange have frequently little or no value in use. Nothing is more useful than water: but it will purchase scarce anything; scarce anything can be had in exchange for it. A diamond , on the contrary, has scarce any use-value; but a very great quantity of other goods may frequently be had in exchange for it.’”(Taking on Water, p 24).

The Deva goes on to explain that this sense that water is free is due to a widely held belief that it is endlessly available. This is, of course, a demonstrably false idea.

The Deva speaks of water tables, aquifers, facts, and numbers, and water usage in the US and around the world. Yet, with her Deva powers Wendy always brings it home to her personal use, her personal choices, her family, and, what are the appropriate solutions for her house and neighborhood, and how she can still get that toasty shower without feeling guilty.

This book is in my mind now each time I shave, do our dishes, or do the laundry. The Deva is peering over my shoulder encouraging me to use water a little bit better, use water a little wiser, use a little less, use it twice if and when possible.

The Deva includes a water cheat sheet in the book (pg. 224) and I reproduce it here:

• Eat less meat.

• Waste less food.

• Conserve energy.

• Be a responsible consumer -

reduce, reuse, recycle.

• Be wary of the sprinkler.

• Get rid of your lawn.

• Fix leaks.

• Use a water efficient washing machine - run it full.

• Replace traditional toilets with low flow models.

• Use a water efficient dishwasher rather than hand washing - run it full.

• Install aerators on your faucets.

• Turn off the shower when you lather and the sink faucet when you brush.

I really enjoyed the daily journal style journey of discovery this book offers.

You can find “Taking on Water” at the Bellingham Public Library. It is also available online at the usual places.