Water is becoming a scarce resource in our world today.
What are your ideas on how we as individuals can save water, in our households, our towns, our country?

Do we really realize how scarce water is in America? What can we do as individuals to conserve it?

We are in the middle of a drought in my area and we have to conserve water if we want to have a sustainable water source in the next 5-10 years.

There are a few things that I do to conserve water.

1. Have a shower timer - 4 mins, thats plenty
2. empty the rinse water from my wasing machine into a bucket and use it to water the plants.
3. As I have a shower over the bath I put the plug in and scoop the water out with a bucket and use that on the garden as well.

These are simple but effective. If we were doing this years ago, we would not be going through the water crisis we are now.

You are so very right. Unfortunately, we can't get that simple concept across here in America. Somehow folks here think that water will be magically renewed, so no one conserves. I always feel as if I am preaching to the choir when I write about conservation.
We practice much the same practices as you do.

We also have crazy local laws/codes that prevent us from effectively conserving water. In my county, I can't put water from the washing machine or dishwasher out onto the yard. County Commissioners decided in their wisdom that the phosphates in the detergents (which federal law requires to be fairly low) are detrimental to the environment.

Our city fathers do make some huge mistakes. So we can't recycle 'gray water' because of phosphates, but we can put it right back in the water supply through the sewer system, meanwhile putting fertilizer filled with phospates on our lawns. Seems no one can see the big picture and act in tiny ways to improve life for the next generations.

Do what you can. Our law stated that you cannot have a greywater system in our area.

The water from the rinse cycle of the washing machine is not going to harm your plants. It is easy to empty that into a bucket and use it to water your plants. Make sure you use the NP type of laundry detergent.

It terrifies me to think that one day I will wake up, turn on the tap, and out comes no water. I do not want to get to that stage.

These are the Level 5 water restrictions that are currently in force in Toowoomba and have been from 26 September 2006, due to dams falling below 20%

Prohibited:

ALL outside watering using town water with any watering device. This includes potted plants as well as gardens.

Permitted by use of bucket (20 litres capacity) filled directly from a tap:

Washing vehicle windscreens, windows, mirrors & headlight lenses
Wheelie bins for hygiene
Washing animals, their pens & kennels
Greywater from laundry & showers/baths on gardens and lawns within the property boundary

I was practicing this long before and we still have healthy gardens and lawns. If we could all learn to adapt to this, than we will make a huge difference in our future water supply which might just stick around for us.

Our federal government refuses to believe that there is a problem with water availability. Therefore we do what we can because we believe it is right. This country wastes more natural resouces than most countries all put together.

We're on Level 3 water restrictions here, and we're allowed to water on a Wednesday and Sunday between 8PM and 8AM. So no water garden for us at this time, but we do have a little bird bath which I refill from the clean water I collect in a bucket waiting for my shower to warm up. The parrots splashing around in their bath are the cutest

You can supposedly use diluted detergent to spray onto roses to get rid of the aphids - so presumably you can bypass that by spraying your roses with water from your laundry :P