A Precious Resource: Water

Water Waste

I grew up in a household where my mother was constantly nagging about wasting water.  I used to find this irritating and would only comply with her request just to get her to leave me alone.  My perspective on water waste has drastically changed since then.  There is an ugly truth to how water is used in America, and an even uglier truth about where it is coming from. 

California is one of the most densely populated states, containing somewhere in the neighborhood of 36 million residents; more than the total population of Canada.  Many Californians are quite nearly out of water, but they don’t even know it yet.  Some of them are out of water entirely.  Specifically, LA is out of water.  One of the largest cities in our country no longer has a way to get its own water.   Instead, water for LA is taken from the Colorado River, the State Water Project, and the LA Aqueducts (responsible for slightly less than half of the total water needs).  Roughly 80 percent of this is used for agriculture and the remaining 20 percent for industrial and residential needs.  In other words, supplies of sufficient amounts of H2O have become non-existent for LA.  While the government is taking steps toward finding a solution for the problem, we can take effortless steps in our own lives to decrease our own water use.

As it is right now, the average household uses 300 gallons of water a day.  Americans use roughly 127 percent more water than they did in 1950.  Old toilets use as much as 3 gallons of water per flush, while newer toilets use as little as one.  Leaky faucets that drip at a rate of one drop per second can waste up to 2700 gallons of water per year.   Another alarming figure: roughly 95 percent of the water that enters our homes goes down the drain.  About 50 percent of water used for landscaping goes to waste due to evaporation or runoff caused by overwatering.  All of this while most people in the world are forced to live off of less than 3 gallons of water per day (we use that much flushing the toilet).  Not only should water conservation be of interest to you, but it should even be considered a responsibility.  If we all make small changes, we can significantly reduce the amount of water we use each day.

Simple things, like:

• Take shorter showers.  For every four minutes of showering, 20 to 40 gallons of water are used.
• Turn of the faucet while you brush your teeth.
• Limit the amount of water you use washing dishes.
• If you don’t mind it too much, you don’t need to flush the toilet after every pee; two to three uses are fine before a flush.   Make those three gallons count.
• Don’t leave your sprinkler on overnight, and try to have more efficient watering techniques.  
• If you have the means, considering purchasing more water efficient appliances- upgrade your dishwasher, get a new toilet, get a new shower head, etc.

These are all simple ways in which you could effectively save 50 or more gallons of water a day.  That could be a difference of 18,250 gallons of water a year less than you currently use.  Multiply that by all your neighbors and the change is pretty impactful.  This type of positive change is easy to come by if you are willing to make even the smallest commitment.

About the author: Jenni Sunde is a freelance fashion writer and pop culture junkie. Jenni specializes in all things lifestyle-related. From home and design to health and beauty. With her love of art and all things beautiful, she delights in sharing her sense of style from her life to your computer monitor. Her title pegs her as an editor at a website that specializes in providing people with a car insurance quote, but her passion leads her into writing with a little more substance and a lot more heart.