So, I’ve been thinking a lot about water use when traveling lately. It kind of hit me during a trip a few years back. I was staying at this place, pretty standard hotel, nothing too fancy, but I just started noticing things.
What I Saw First Hand
First off, the laundry. Man, the sheer volume of towels and sheets they went through. Every single day, everything replaced. Even if you hung your towel up, sometimes housekeeping would just swap it out anyway. Seemed like such a waste, you know? I barely use that many towels at home in a week!
Then there were the showers. Great water pressure, sure, but it felt like you could run them forever. No little signs asking you to be mindful, nothing. And I saw people, other guests, just letting the water run for ages before even getting in. It drove me a bit nuts, honestly.
And don’t get me started on sprinklers watering lawns in the middle of the day, with half the water just evaporating. Or pools being topped up constantly. It all just started adding up in my head.
Trying to Do My Bit
So, I decided I had to at least try and change my own habits when I traveled. It wasn’t much, but it felt like something.
- Towel thing: I started making a real point of hanging my towels up, sometimes even leaving a little note saying “No need to change, thanks!”. Mixed results, honestly. Sometimes it worked, sometimes they changed them anyway.
- Showers: Definitely cut down my shower time. Tried to be quick, get in, get clean, get out. Turned the tap off when brushing teeth, the usual stuff you do at home but maybe forget on vacation.
- Leaky taps: If I saw a leaky tap or toilet in my room, I actually started reporting it to the front desk. Again, sometimes they fixed it right away, other times… well, you know. Felt like shouting into the wind occasionally.
The Bigger Picture Stuff
I remember staying at this one smaller guesthouse once. Really nice owners. I got chatting with them about water, mentioning some of the stuff I’d seen elsewhere. They were actually trying! They had rainwater harvesting tanks for their garden and used low-flow showerheads.
But they said it was tough. Guests sometimes complained about the shower pressure being lower. And installing stuff like greywater systems was expensive for a small place. It made me realize it’s not always simple. There’s guest expectations, costs, lack of awareness from both sides – tourists and businesses.
It feels like a lot of the tourism industry just runs on autopilot with water. Use as much as you want, it’s part of the ‘luxury’ experience. But I’ve seen places, especially in drier areas, where water is a serious issue for the local community. It feels wrong for tourists to be wasting it like crazy while locals might be facing restrictions.
Where I’m At Now
So yeah, that’s been my journey with it. Started with just noticing the waste, then trying to be better myself, and seeing some of the challenges businesses face too. I still try to do my bit – shorter showers, reusing towels, reporting leaks. I also try to choose places that seem more conscious about it, if I can tell beforehand, but it’s often hard to know.
It’s not perfect. Sometimes I forget, or I’m tired, or the hotel just makes it impossible to save water. But I keep trying. Feels like the least I can do, you know? Just being a bit more mindful when I’m away from home.
