So many of us in the Lower Mainland and surrounding areas woke up to the smell of campfire and a strange haze in the air over the last few days. Unfortunately, we didn’t wake up at the cottage or camping, which was my first thought as memories of my cottage came flooding back as I breathed in that air. This was because of all the forest fires that have been happening in our province in the last few days. We’ve had a very dry Spring and early Summer, with no end in sight. 
There are water restrictions in place in most, if not all, of BC. Some area’s are in Level 4, we are currently at Level 2, which means you can’t water your lawns (or only at very restricted times). We’ve been trying to figure out ways to reduce our water consumption, because small steps add up, and if more people do their part, we can make a difference.
We are still allowed to fill kiddie pools on hot days to keep cool, so if we need to empty and refill the pool, we’ve been using the older pool water to water our plants. The kids love to help, and have been using their water guns to ‘redistribute’ the water, rather than just dumping it on our lawn.
I’ve also started keeping a bowl in our sink to catch water when rinsing fruit or veggies or cleaning barely dirty dishes. This water also goes to water our veggie garden/plants.
Another thing we do it make sure to keep the tap off when brushing teeth and only turning it on when necessary. I’m going to keep a bucket in our tub to catch the water as it’s warming up for the shower, and fill a litre bottle with water and put it in our toilet tanks to reduce the amount of water flushed whenever we do.
If the toilet is yellow, we’re letting it mellow, and when it’s brown, then we’ll flush it down. 
A few other things you can do, don’t buy bottled water, instead bring your own in reusable bottles, and only do full loads of laundry and dishes when you absolutely have to.
These things are all little, but they do add up, and they are really easy to implement, we just need to do it.
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