Chile Forum

Being a particularly avid "water is a precious resource, so don't waste it" kind of person, I am continuing to find that the majority of Chileans that I know (admittedly not that many - certainly not a representative sample) have a predilection for washing dishes with the water running continuously. Out of curiosity - is this typical here, or am I just sampling a strange subset of the population?

very very very typical, and very annoying,

They were disgusted that i filled the sink and washed the dishes, they were like ewww, you make the watar dirty, then you wash it that can not be clean......

i give up sometimes!

ryanar wrote:Being a particularly avid "water is a precious resource, so don't waste it" kind of person, I am continuing to find that the majority of Chileans that I know (admittedly not that many - certainly not a representative sample) have a predilection for washing dishes with the water running continuously. Out of curiosity - is this typical here, or am I just sampling a strange subset of the population?

Yes - very typical of the local intransigence. I once worked in a chilean kitchen and tried to convince the staff to "soak the dishes in hot soapy water" and then use a hot rinse tub. I might as well have tried pissing up a rope. They were completely untrainable, and generally unresponsive to other energy/water conserving measures. In our case (southern Patagonia) 80 percent of the cost of heating gas was subsidised by the central government, so the people have no incentives to conserve. They have similar wasteful practices regarding nearly all such resources.

I have a grey water system being designed into my new house, it captures all the sink, shower and laundry water. I want the filtered grey water for the garden and to run back into the house for the toilets, they just don’t get it, the architect says “yes yes yes” then when I look at the plan the run for the toilets are a branch from the cold water in the bathrooms, he tells me it’s “difficult”. I told him to design it as discussed or they are fired, he tried the “its illegal”, I checked, he lied, they were fired. This company was recommended because they do “Green” designs. Yeh, real green, maybe with green paint that’s as green as any design gets down here.

nwdiver wrote:I have a grey water system being designed into my new house, it captures all the sink, show and laundry water. I want the filtered grey water for the garden and to run back into the house for the toilets, they just don’t get it, the architect says “yes yes yes” then when I look at the plan the run for the toilets are a branch from the cold water in the bathrooms, he tells me it’s “difficult”. I told him to design it in as discussed or they are fired, he tried the “its illegal”, I checked, he lied, they were fired. This company was recommended because they do “Green” designs. Yeh, real green, maybe with green paint that’s as green as any design gets down here.

Great story! Love the chamullo. You did the right thing by firing those bastards.

I was able to get greywater system with no argument. Didn't have to fire anyone. System runs laundry, kitchen, handwashing, shower, everything but blackwater, into the garden.

Managed to get carpenters to run canaleta to a single collection point for capture in a future rainwater cistern as well. Collects from more than 400 m3 of roof. Cistern is project for next season.

Funny how it seems that the only ones really doing resource/energy conservation, recycling, insulation, .... are the Europeans and North Americans around here.

All these phony "ecologistas" parading in the streets, and they haven't the foggiest idea.....

To respond to the OP: While some are indeed washing dishes "with the water running continuously", they could do it without any washing liquid(s), or other chemicals, whatsoever, while some others, who would "soak the dishes in hot soapy water" would be adding the said chemicals, and pretty much of these (sometimes), in order to make water "soapy".

The question is, how do we compare the impact on the environment, taking into account that the chemicals used by the later category are returning to this very environment, that is not good, while the former are returning the water that is, though of course not "clean", yet -- it is not clean "organically"?

But most run the water and use soap (in my experience), and more soap. I would be buying a bottle of dish soap a week for my house, that’s much more than using a soaking/washing sink and then a rinsing sink then air drying the dishes. I like my dishes air dried not rubbed dry with a dish cloth that has been use to wipe up the counters after the chicken is chopped up on them. Another thing I don’t have in my home is paper towels, I have an endless supply of cotton kitchen towels and have banned paper towels from the house, and the nannies think I’m cheap.

nwdiver wrote:But most run the water and use soap (in my experience), and more soap.

Ah, I see. Well. I was speaking about a kind of weird folks, who would use nothing but egg yolk to wash their hair, just water to wash, and some ashes from their wood-stove (in case some dishes are indeed thoroughly dirty).

gato wrote:To respond to the OP: While some are indeed washing dishes "with the water running continuously", they could do it without any washing liquid(s), or other chemicals, whatsoever, while some others, who would "soak the dishes in hot soapy water" would be adding the said chemicals, and pretty much of these (sometimes), in order to make water "soapy".

The question is, how do we compare the impact on the environment, taking into account that the chemicals used by the later category are returning to this very environment, that is not good, while the former are returning the water that is, though of course not "clean", yet -- it is not clean "organically"?

The soap here is in fact technically organic and it is biograded, and the garden is very happy.

In the case of the commercial kitchen I mentioned earlier, if you use no soap, the equivalent of the health dept here will issue sanctions.

nwdiver wrote:Another thing I don’t have in my home is paper towels, I have an endless supply of cotton kitchen towels and have banned paper towels from the house, and the nannies think I’m cheap.

This is good to hear, really. And what kind of pictures are there, on the cotton kitchen towels?

gato wrote:

nwdiver wrote:Another thing I don’t have in my home is paper towels, I have an endless supply of cotton kitchen towels and have banned paper towels from the house, and the nannies think I’m cheap.

This is good to hear, really. And what kind of pictures are there, on the cotton kitchen towels?

No pictures they are unbleached cotton.

Yea, came home in the middle of the day last week to find my housekeeper with a highly toxic bottle of oven cleaner wiping down the counters. The one that says do not mix with other chemicals, use protective clothing, do not come in contact with skin, 101 fun chemistry experiments, and so on. I have also had to stop her from burning all kinds of toxic crap in the fireplace such as laminated lumber scraps, sappy pine 2x4 scraps, plastics, and so on. Good old wood is sufficiently polluting on its own.

Most of the cleaners sold in Chile will break a septic system. You almost have to have a grey water separation system to keep the septic systems working the way they are suppose to, especially if your housekeeper has not been in school since the periodic table was put together.

I am designing a grey water system in to my house also (really much easier and cheaper than buying a bigger septic system anyway). On the off chance that someone ever complains about it (not likely, but sometimes just the argument alone is more costly than the "go away" solution), I am adding a secondary diversion system to reroute the grey water to the septic system until they go away and I can simply flip the valve back. Will likely use for landscape watering for now, as I am too lazy to work through any more complex treatment system at the moment. I do plan to get back to that, so am leaving the option open in the planning.

I have also decided to add double septic tanks to the normal system. Creates added backup, greater capacity, and the black water gets treated longer. There are some States in the U.S. where they are required because of the high water table or poor soil. Going through the trouble of laying a system in the first place is the relatively expensive part, one more tank and some extra pipe is fairly cheap.

I have also got plans to do a rain water collection system for backup water supply, even though I have a community well for water. There is no shortage of rain water in southern Chile (even durring the summers), and most of it just drains over the yard anyway. Without needing to get in to complex treatment of the rainwater, I plan to use it for toilets, showers, and irrigating the greenhouse. In an emergency (even just a dead pump on the community well, or short contamination), it will be fully possible to use it for drinking. If I am going to spend so much effort trying to get the stuff to drain correctly around the yard, it should earn its keep.

Honestly, I am not sure I would allow a Chilean architect to do much more than simple drawings to get you past local codes. I am having a relative draw my plans, and a local architect will be assisting only in as far as needed to get past the building permit process. Of course the plans will meet or exceed codes, just again avoiding the argument over what qualifies is often easier. We have a bunch of engineers and architects around Chile that we have worked with over the years for clients' projects, so I don't expect too much arguing with any of them about what I want to do. It will be more of "I want to do X, figure out how to get it past the city".