I know that many of us live in areas where drought is a part of life. I thought maybe we could share ideas of how to stretch the water so it's utilized in more than one way when possible.

Here are a few of mine.

1
Our bathroom has a shower-tub. Right next to it we have placed a container that years ago held liquid laundry detergent. In the morning, I put the container under the tub spout, turn the water to Hot, and let it run until warm [usually 0.75-1 gallons]. Then I use the water to flush the commode. (Of course for people with young children, having a container with water around would not be a good idea.)

2
Outside, I have fig trees in 10 gallon fiber pots. Because [even with drip irrigation] the water passes through the fiber pots quickly, I have placed them along the drip line of a tree in our yard. The tree seems to do just fine on the secondary water and doesn't need extra irrigation.

Does anyone have ideas to share?

I know some places have outlawed it, but I use rain barrels. Hardly takes any rain (maybe .10") to fill up 100 gallons worth of barrels, and I rarely empty them before the next rain. Of course, I'm in Pennsylvania, not exactly an arid area.

In general though I always advocate for mulch, and then some more mulch. 3" is ideal. Keeps water in the soil, reduces water stealing weeds, and improves soil structure to promote water retention.

I put a plastic bowl in the sink and when I wash my hands, I collect all the water - I pour that into a bucket and when there is enough, use it for flushing.

In extreme drought situation, I'll also hand wash dishes and use the water from the dishpans for flushing as well.

Mainly I try to just use less in the house however. Shorter showers, wearing clothes just a bit longer before washing, fuller laundry loads...

I have friends who in past droughts diverted the water from their laundry outside. Of course you can't be using a lot of bleach and strong detergents if you do that. In some places that might be illegal.

Gina, I think in some places it's legal to divert the laundry water but indeed there should be a diverter valve if using strong detergents and bleach.

In fact I had wondered about how to filter the water. I had seen some gravity filters but thought they cost a lot for what you get.

A friend and I thought of doing the same thing with a 5 gallon bucket with screw-on lid [having a rubber seal] and 3M-type floor machine scrubbing pads. The pads are already round and can easily be cut to fit in the bucket [the remainders work well as scrub pads].

         

I have a friend who is considering setting up an outside bath/shower of some sort, and diverting the water into the garden. If you had good privacy, that could work. Difficult to regulate, but you could use solar heated water from a hose.

a few months ago, i had a plumber vent my kitchen sink into a  1 1/2'' hose, that's 25' long.

i planted a peach, which is a water hog two months ago.  it has never received any water other than this and it is very happy.
when i want to fertilize, i drop a tablespoon of MG down the drain.

we are in the fifth year of a severe drought so water conservation is mandatory. this was my best idea so far.

i'm not using any lagoon or anything else to filter this water. the tree is in a basin to allow spot irrigation surrounded by large
rocks to act as a mulch. the hose empties right into this basin. i think the small particals of food and grease provide a low grade fertilizer.

i could easily grow 4 figs with this same water, but i prefer watering them by hand.


i also got  another hose of the same size and am   expirementing with using the rinse  water from the washing machine too, but i just started that.

it fits right onto the washer hose.

As someone from CA in AZ can tell you that there are no water restrictions here in Phoenix. In fact, many communities require you to maintain a green front lawn. Plus, in order to maintain that green lawn, you have to reseed when the weather changes and water it in really well. Plus, there's widespread over fertilization. Neighbors just run the water until it's running down the gutter. We haven't had a good rain in months. Water is cheap here too.

Another idea if you have large properties: Keyline Design. I would think it can be scaled to small properties in some ways.

It was developed in Australia to capture, divert, and control rain using contours in the landscape. Many books in the topic are free online.