Tribewanted: Vorovoro

When I first arrived on Vorovoro, like most people I did not think about my water consumption a great deal. Whilst cleaning my teeth I

would turn off the tap or I would try to wash clothes only when I had a full load but that really was as far as it went. As Vorovoro relies solely on rain water, water consumption was an obvious topic to cover when we created are 4 year Anniversary board. I was quite amazed to discover that on average tribe members on Vorovoro use only 6 litres of water per day (for drinking, washing, cooking, washing up, and kava drinking!)compared to 150 litres per person in the UK and 500 litres per person in the US. (data from www.sustainablelearning.info)

Of course due to our differing societies it would be impossible to expect the figures in the UK and US to be anywhere near the one for

Vorovoro. In our lives outside of Vorovoro, most of us live lives where flushing toilets, washing machines, and showers more frequent that once per week are necessary. However, having experienced an existence with using limited water (and surprisingly, not being too smelly!!), it will certainly make me think about the water I use in future. For example, could I turn off the shower whilst I am lathering my hair? Why can’t I use rain water and a bucket to wash and rinse my car? Do I have to put plates in the dishwasher (if I have one) after every meal? And why not use rain water to water the garden?

All these things are really small, but over a period of time if everyone changed their behaviour ever so slightly, it would make a huge difference.