How long do you spend in the shower? Three, five, ten, 15 minutes? Hazlo en Cinco (Do it in Five) is the name of new campaign to conserve water launched this week by Guadalajara’s Intermunicipal Water Authority (SIAPA).
A pilot project in Colonia Lomas de Polanco will measure water usage in more than 4,000 homes as the campaign progress through the end of October. In addition to distributing (five-minute) hourglasses, 50 SIAPA employees will visit every household in the neighborhood to promote the campaign and explain its benefits. Meanwhile, didactic material will be posted in local schools, parks and community centers.
Although there is little reliable data on showering behavior in Guadalajara, SIAPA reckons the average shower time to be around ten minutes. Reducing this by half will save householders 90 liters a day, 2,700 liters a month or 32,850 liters a year, the utility estimates. The average daily use per household in the Guadalajara metropolitan zone is 192 liters, according to SIAPA figures.