It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Protect Your Groundwater Day 2019}

Yesterday was Protect Your Groundwater Day! Everyday, we use water for cooking, drinking, cleaning, and more. Fish like Frannie call the water home.

But did you know that the groundwater we drink can be at risk for pollution and overuse? Even though Protect Your Groundwater Day is over this year, there are still many things we can do to help keep our water clean and make sure there's plenty of it for the future. Frannie wants to share an activity that will help you celebrate every day like Protect Your Groundwater Day.

You only need 2 things: a writing utensil and something you can write on!

Here's what to do:

1. Look around your home, school, or neighborhood for ways you can help save water and ways groundwater pollution can be prevented.

2. Make a checklist of all the ways you and your family can help protect groundwater. Check out the example checklist below to get started!

• Use fertilizer according to package directions.
• Take back leftover, unused, and expired medications to a pharmacy participating in the Nebraska MEDS project.
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle!
• Take hazardous waste to places where it can be properly disposed.
• Shut water off while brushing your teeth.
• Only run full loads of dishes and laundry.
• Check for leaky faucets and have them fixed.
• Water the lawn during cooler hours of day and only when the grass needs water.
• Sweep your sidewalks and driveways rather than rinsing them with water.
• Take a shower instead of a bath.
• Take short showers and use an aerator or low-flow shower head.
• Take motor oil and other household hazardous waste to a recycling or collection center.
• Use environmentally-friendly cleaners.

You can download the free water-tracking app for
Android and Apple, 30by30, to track your water use and learn even more ways you can help conserve water.

3. After you decide what activities you can do to help protect groundwater, take the groundwater pledge:

"I believe clean water is important to all things. I pledge to:

Be aware of activities that can be harmful to groundwater.

Do my part to help protect groundwater and all natural resources.

Make an effort to educate myself and others about water and ways that we can make a difference.

Let's keep it clean!"

Now share the checklists you and your friends made with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Level Up Your Sustainability in the Shower}

Last week, Frannie challenged you to take shorter showers: only 5 minutes, in fact.  But did you know that there are many other ways you can up your sustainability game just in your shower or bathtub? 

Here are a few unique ways you might not know about:

1. No one likes to step foot in a cold shower. While you wait for the water to get hot, put a bucket under the faucet or showerhead.  Instead of letting that water run down the drain, you can use it to water your garden or household plants!

2. Consider replacing an old showerhead with a WaterSense showerhead. The WaterSense label means that the showerhead uses 20% less water per minute than a standard showerhead but is just as comfortable and works just as well at washing you off. 

3. Stop the clock! No, don’t literally stop the clock, but consider turning the shower off when you’re lathering up or waiting for the recommended amount of time on your conditioner bottle. Think of this as the next level of turning off the faucet when you brush your teeth.

4. Reuse the captured water from the beginning of your shower or plug the sink and gather a small amount in the bottom to rinse off your razor. By using a small amount of water instead of running water, you can shave gallons off your monthly water bill (excuse the pun).

5. Replace some of your bath products with natural or biodegradable substitutes. Not only will you feel good about taking steps to protect your water quality, but many popular organic and biodegradable soaps and shampoos contain aloe or coconut oil to leave your skin feeling soft and clean.


Frannie wants you to try to level up this week by using one or more of these tips. Let her know how the challenge is going on Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter!

Good luck!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {#TBT: Let's Keep Winter Clean!}

It looks like winter is finally here to stay! Have fun, stay warm, and enjoy this post from last year on how to be a good steward of the earth while staying safe on the slippery sidewalks.

With so much snow and ice on the ground, it’s important that we stay safe on our way to work or school.  Many cities use big trucks carry loads of salt and sand to spread on the roads and sidewalks.  This mixture melts ice and prevents it from forming again so that we can travel around without slipping.

Once the ice is melted, though, the water mixes with the salt and the runoff can cause the groundwater and surface water to become contaminated.  Here’s some ways you can help limit contamination from your home this winter.

1. Shovel early and shovel often. Frannie thinks its fun to shovel snow when it's not too thick and heavy.

2. To limit salt pollution, don't use too much salt or ice-melt. You only need about a handful for each square yard of concrete and using more doesn't actually work better.

3. Sand and kitty litter can stop you from slipping, but they don't melt snow.  Too much of it can even clog sewers, so remember to sweep up and throw away any extra that is left after the ice is gone.

4. Try an eco-friendly alternative to ice-melt and sand such as cracked corn, alfalfa meal, or beet juice.  While you should still be careful not to over-use them, these ingredients are shown to be less harmful than traditional ice treatments.

We can have fun, stay safe, AND keep winter clean together!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Happy Thanksgiving!}

It’s almost Thanksgiving! Frannie is hosting a huge Thanksgiving meal for her friends and family to show how thankful she is for their presence. Even though there will be a lot of cooking and cleaning, here are some tricks Frannie loves to use to stay water-smart during this time of year.

1)  Give yourself enough time to defrost your turkey. A popular method to quickly defrost turkey and other meats on the big day is to soak them in cold water. Instead, try planning ahead and place your turkey in the refrigerator a few days before. Just remember: the bigger the turkey, the more time it needs to thaw.
Bonus Tip: Put the turkey in a pan or plastic bag to catch any leaking juices. 

2)  Wash your veggies and fruits in a large bowl of water. Instead of using running water to rinse all the veggies, use a bowl to cut down the amount of water that goes down the drain. Then, give that grey water cleaning duty and soak the roasting pan, dirty utensils, or other dishes before washing them.


3)  Steaming your vegetables instead of boiling them not only conserves water, but also preserves more nutrients and vitamins. If you don’t have a special steamer, you can place your veggies and a few tablespoons of water in a microwave safe container with a lid and microwave them for a few minutes. No microwave? Place inexpensive metal forks on the bottom of a pot, fill with a few tablespoons of water, and then let veggies steam in a heat-safe plate on top of forks.

4)  When cleaning dishes, carefully and completely load up your dishwasher and only run full loads.  Did you know that an ENERGY STAR-rated dishwasher can use as little as three gallons? If you wash dishes by hand, fill one basin with wash water and the other with rinse water.  And remember, put that grey water you used to wash veggies to work by soaking dirty pans and dishes to make the whole process easier.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It’s Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {5 Tips to Go Green at School}

Welcome back to school!  Frannie has some useful tips to help you and your friends go green this semester.

1. If you get a ride to school, try carpooling with your friends.  Not only will you be environmentally friendly, but you will also have more fun singing with your friends to the songs on the radio.

2. If you are close to the school, encourage your friends to walk, bike, or even swim to school instead of using a car or the bus.

3. When shopping for school supplies, look for recycled paper, pencils made from recycled denim, and backpacks created from old juice boxes.  Save money, be eco-friendly, and stay on trend for the school year.

4. Speaking of trends, did you know that Target donates it’s damaged, discontinued, and out-of-season items to Goodwill?  You can often find current styles and gadgets at discount stores for a fraction of the price while helping reduce waste.

5. Frannie knows that food waste is a problem, but single-use plastic baggies or brown bags and pre-wrapped snacks are also bad for the environment.  Instead, invest in a re-usable lunch box and utensils. Sturdy plastic storage containers help you go green while protecting your sandwiches and bananas from getting squished on the way to school.

**

Bonus Tip: 
Check to see if your school has a recycling program or environmental club you can join. If there isn’t one, consider starting your own and helping your friends go green at school. 

It’s Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Food Waste Part 3: Upcycled Leftovers}

This is the third part of Frannie’s dive into reducing food waste at home.  Click to read the first and second parts.

Did you know that there are ways to reduce food waste and save water even after you’re done cooking and eating?

If you’re like Frannie, you know that variety is the spice of life. Eating the same thing for several meals each week can get a little boring.  Instead of letting all of those leftovers go to waste, consider freezing them for a few weeks or, depending on the item, up to a few months.

If you have so many leftovers that you can’t possibly eat them all before they good bad, consider donating them.  Even if your food is a little too old for food centers to take it, many farmers accept scrap donations for pig feed or to add to their own compost piles. To find a farm near you that does this, click here.

After your morning cup of coffee or afternoon tea, the used leaves and grounds can be added to your compost pile or simply scooped on top of your houseplants or garden.  If you use coffee pods, consider starting seedlings or small succulents in them instead of heading straight for the garbage bin.  You can find ideas for pod potters, along with other artsy ways to upcycle the pods, here.

 

And remember, the best way to really reduce food waste is to educate yourself and others about why it's an issue and what you can do about it.

Share with us some of your ways to reduce food and water waste after your meals on our Facebook, Twitter, or E-mail.  Happy Upcycling!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Mulch}

Evaporation happens when water is heated enough to turn into a gas and expand into the atmosphere.  When Frannie is gardening, she wants to make sure that her plants get enough water but that it’s not wasted by evaporating in the hot summer sun.

In the past, she learned the best times of the day to water are dawn and dusk when it isn’t so hot.  But there’s another common and inexpensive option that she’d like to share with you: Mulch.

Mulch is a material that you use to cover the soil around your plants. Many people use it in landscaping because it comes in a variety of colors and textures, but it also does several important things to help keep your plants healthy and strong.

1. Evaporation Prevention. This is one of the most important purposes mulch serves in this hot weather. Mulch absorbs the heat from the sun and prevents it from reaching the soil that the plant is growing in. Because the soil is cooler, it is able to take in and retain more moisture than it would were it exposed.
2. Weed Prevention. No one likes weeds.  They take up all the water and good nutrients in the soil that we want for our own flowers and food.  Mulch, by stopping the sunlight from reaching the ground, starves out weeds and they are unable to grow in that area. It also stops any new seeds from landing in your garden.
3. Soil Improvement. Ok, so we know that the soil in our garden is cooler with more moisture and fewer weeds, but it also builds up the soil.  All types of mulch prevent the wind from eroding the soil but organic or natural mulch can go one step further by enhancing the soil with nutrients as they decompose.  An area mulched with pine needles, for example, becomes acidic as the mulch decomposes and becomes suited for acid-loving plants like azaleas. 
   

Try using mulch this summer and let us know how it goes on our Facebook, Twitter, or send us an email. Happy Gardening!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Let's Keep Winter Clean!}

Brrrr!!!

With so much snow and ice on the ground, it’s important that we stay safe on our way to work or school.  Many cities use big trucks carry loads of salt and sand to spread on the roads and sidewalks.  This mixture melts ice and prevents it from forming again so that we can travel around without slipping.

Once the ice is melted, though, the water mixes with the salt and the runoff can cause the groundwater and surface water to become contaminated.  Here’s some ways you can help limit contamination from your home this winter.

1. Shovel early and shovel often. Frannie thinks its fun to shovel snow when it's not too thick and heavy.

2. To limit salt pollution, don't use too much salt or ice-melt. You only need about a handful for each square yard of concrete and using more doesn't actually work better.

3. Sand and kitty litter can stop you from slipping, but they don't melt snow.  Too much of it can even clog sewers, so remember to sweep up and throw away any extra that is left after the ice is gone.

4. Try an eco-friendly alternative to ice-melt and sand such as cracked corn, alfalfa meal, or beet juice.  While you should still be careful not to over-use them, these ingredients are shown to be less harmful than traditional ice treatments.

We can have fun, stay safe, AND keep winter clean together!

It's Water-Wise Wednesdays with Frannie the Fish! {Holiday Upcycling: Coffee Can Decor}

Frannie was bummed that her favorite coffee containers were not recyclable. So she decided to upcycle them instead! There are so many different ways to use an upcycled coffee container. Frannie could make a vase, a storage place for pens and pencils, some lovely holiday decor, or even a cute container to wrap gifts in! This week Frannie is going to show you how to upcycle a coffee container!

Want to learn why Frannie is doing an upcycling project this week? Check out the Upcycled Clothing Pin Snowflake Ornament blog here.

Here's what you need:

• A coffee can
• Scissors
• Glue
• Craft supplies: ribbon, paint, sequins, glitter, stickers, etc.

Here's what you do:
1. Find an empty coffee can. You can choose to keep the lid or recycle the lid if possible. Frannie decided to recycle her lid since she won't be using it.

2. Decorate your coffee can! Use whatever craft supplies you have to decorate your coffee can. Frannie wrapped some string around her can to create a neat effect.

3. Once you like the way your coffee can looks, you are done! Congratulations! Go ahead and re-purpose your can as a vase, holiday decoration, storage container, or whatever you like like!

For more fun!
Add labels! Decorate several coffee cans and add a label to each describing what item you wish to store inside them.

Share photos of your upcycled coffee can decor here!

Frannie wishes you a fun and safe holiday season!  

Get Smart - About Irrigation

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

July is Smart Irrigation Month. An initiative of the Irrigation Association, the campaign  
educates businesses, homeowners, growers/producers, and other water users about efficient water use.

Being smart about water use (taken from https://www.irrigation.org/Resources/Smart_Irrigation_Month/Consumer_Resources.aspx):

• Saves money on your utility bill.
• Nurtures green spaces that deliver real environmental benefits.
• Protects your community's water supply for generations to come.
• Minimizes needed investments in infrastrucuture to store and carry water, which must be paid for by property taxes or municipal bonds.

The Irrigation Association promotes a variety of other strategies to help users be efficient with outdoor watering:

• Plant right.
• Invest in an irrigation system.
• Water wisely.
• Maintain and upgrade your system.
• Work with an irrigation professional.

You can also check out some great resources at irrigation.education from Valmont Industries. It's a great online source for on-demand education about agricultural irrigation. Available 24/7, irrigation.education shares best practices and product advice for every application.

How are you being water smart this month? Post a comment here or on our Facebook page.

11 Ways to Conserve Water During Summer Fun

by Jennifer Wemhoff, The Groundwater Foundation

Kids are out of school and summer is upon us. Many times summer fun involves water, and here are easy ways to conserve water during summer fun.

1. If you want to beat the heat by running through the sprinkler, make it have a purpose! Periodically move the sprinkler around the lawn to give it all a good watering. 

2. Position your sprinkler to water your garden or landscape while the kids splash and play.

3. Install a rain barrel on one of your home's downspouts. Let your kids paint and decorate it for a colorful, unique addition to your landscape.

4. If you're lucky enough to have a backyard pool, use a pool cover and keep the water cool to help reduce water lost to evaporation.

5. Stay cool by placing a wet cloth around your neck instead of using misters, where most of the water evaporates immediately.

6. Spend more time having fun and less time on yardwork - mow your grass less often and cut it longer. Less water will evaporate from taller grass, and you'll save time and energy by mowing less.

7. On your family vacation, reuse your hotel towels throughout your stay to conserve water and save on detergent added to water.

 

8. When eating out on your vacation, decline the frequent water refills if you don't plan to drink it for less water wasted down the drain.

9. Take the kids to the pool and skip the bath. Swimming counts as a bath during the summer, right?

10. Fill reusable water bottles instead of disposable plastic bottles during sporting events and summer road trips.

11. Keep a pitcher of water in the fridge for a refreshing drink after fun in the sun.

That's Your Excuse. Really?

Due to the extensive drought that has plagued a great portion of North America, the hometown of the Groundwater Foundation, Lincoln, Nebraska is under mandatory water restrictions.  But what is really needed is to change the mindset of people.  In general, people don’t really believe there will be a consequence if we do not limit our water use (“we won’t really run out of water”)  Or, they don’t see how not watering their little lawn will make a difference, or they expect someone else to limit their water use, or…the excuses go on and on.  Well, guess what, not recognizing the situation for what it is, and not being a part of the solution is unacceptable.

We all can use our water more wisely.  We can let our lawns go dormant a bit earlier than usual, we can and we must.  Let’s not sit around and hope for rain, or assume that sooner or later it will rain.  Let’s each make it our personal goal to do better.  

So, whether your community is suffering from the drought conditions or not, be part of the solution to ensure the resource is available today, tomorrow and for our future generations.  Make sure you are setting the example at home, at your workplace – it only takes one sparkplug to get the rest of the family or colleagues to rally. 

Water sustains life, water is a finite resource and to ensure its availability for future generations we must use it wisely. It is through individual actions that collectively we can make a difference.

For more water conservation tips, visit http://www.groundwater.org/howmuchamIdrinking.html.