water
water is a finite resource; politics, location, climate, and your own habits
all play a role in how much is available, and how clean it is.
all play a role in how much is available, and how clean it is.
Conventional Wisdom:
Only areas that face low rainfall or prolonged droughts need to
worry about water conservation. Any pollution in fresh water is
filtered out as the water flows through the ground into the water
table. And anyway, city water treatment plants do the final clean
before it reaches our pipes and after it goes down the drain… what’s
to worry about?
Today there are more people using the same amount of water as existed 100
years ago. Water suffers from the tension between people’s multiple needs for
it: as a fundamental resource for life, for transportation, and for agriculture and
other industries.
Here the focus is on water as you most likely experience it: drinking water from
the tap and using for bathing and household needs. You'll also learn how your
choices in food and manufactured products affect water supplies, and what
happens to it after it goes down your drains.
The upside is you will save energy – when you reduce water consumption, you
automatically have concurrent energy savings due to reduced heating and
pumping.
Only areas that face low rainfall or prolonged droughts need to
worry about water conservation. Any pollution in fresh water is
filtered out as the water flows through the ground into the water
table. And anyway, city water treatment plants do the final clean
before it reaches our pipes and after it goes down the drain… what’s
to worry about?
Today there are more people using the same amount of water as existed 100
years ago. Water suffers from the tension between people’s multiple needs for
it: as a fundamental resource for life, for transportation, and for agriculture and
other industries.
Here the focus is on water as you most likely experience it: drinking water from
the tap and using for bathing and household needs. You'll also learn how your
choices in food and manufactured products affect water supplies, and what
happens to it after it goes down your drains.
The upside is you will save energy – when you reduce water consumption, you
automatically have concurrent energy savings due to reduced heating and
pumping.
Clean, fresh water is healthiest for living things. This category
addresses things you can do to improve water efficiency and
reduce water pollution at home or office.
addresses things you can do to improve water efficiency and
reduce water pollution at home or office.
re: Start simple steps to take today
- reduce your everyday use of water:
 | check for leaky pipes and toilets and repair them immediately | |
| place a brick in the toilet tank to reduce water for each flush (standard toilets made before 1992 often use 6 | |
| gallons of water or more per flush; the average person pees about 2oz in one sitting) | ||
| don’t use the toilet as a trash can – flush only what is meant to be flushed | |
| don’t run the tap while doing tasks at the sink | |
| fill a bucket and turn off the hose while washing the car | |
| time your shower – typical shower heads run at 2gpm (gallons per minute) or more. How much water are you | |
| using? Make a goal of reducing the time by one minute per week until you’re under 10 minutes, or whatever is an improvement for you. |
- Avoid bottled water: removing water from one area of the world and shipping it to another requires an incredible
use of energy and resources (water, fossil fuels, chemicals for the plastic bottles, etc.) and depletes the area of origin of
an important resource – often with deplorably small recompense (listen to an NPR report on this subject). Most
municipal water wins over bottled waters in blind taste tests. If you don’t like your tap water, consider an in-line filter or
(cheaper / immediate) filter-pitcher such as Britta or Pur. Still not convinced? Watch this slide show
- Eat less red meat: thousands of gallons of water are used in the raising of one cow for meat production (check
out this visual). A vegetarian diet is 50% more effective at reducing CO2 emissions than switching from a typical gas-
guzzler to a hybrid. Watch this video for a great synopsis of the environmental impact of beef.
- Do not dispose of chemicals, cleaners, or medicines down any drain. Household cleaners and
pharmaceuticals contain chemicals and compounds that react with all the other chemicals and compounds in the
waterway (municipal sewer or babbling brook) making a potent cocktail that can weaken local ecosystems or incur the
heavier and stronger use of even more chemicals to remove them.
| Use up the contents per the instructions; or share leftovers with neighbors until container is empty | |
| return unused medicines to the pharmacy for proper disposal |
- Not all street drains lead to the water treatment plant; unless otherwise marked, assume street drains lead directly
to local streams. These drains are meant to clear storm water off streets – not be used as your personal utility sink.
re: Generate dig a little deeper- Place low-flow aerators on all your sink taps; this reduces the flow from the usual 2.0gpm (gallons per minute) to
1.6 or less (a 20% savings). These do-dads simply screw on the tap and cost a few dollars each, available at your local
hardware store
- Replace your shower head with a low-flow option, also available at your local hardware store; compare
shower heads for lowest "GPM" (gallons per minute). You may want to experiment with different models to find the one
that works best with your water pressure and expectations
- bottle your own water: start with a ceramic, glass, or steel container and add your own filtered water. Stock your
work area with a drinking glass. Click here for a primer on filter types.
- Still washing dishes by hand? Revamp your method to avoid running water continuously. The 2-bowl method
works best - fill one side of a double-bowl sink with hot soapy washing water, the other side with cool rinsing water. If at
all possible, invest in an Energy Star-labeled dishwasher - one machine will save around 5,000 gallons of water
compared to hand-washing, annually
- Continue to refine your diet: shop for organically-grown and -raised goods. Small farms, even if not labeled
organic, are often more resource-efficient by necessity than their massive agri-business counterparts. Plus, local farms
don't have to ship their products as far - reducing transportation costs and energy to boot
- Make your own household cleaners (or purchase those with benign ingredients) – water and white vinegar can
handle most everyday cleaning jobs with ease and don’t increase chemical burdens. I like Annie Berthold-Bond's "Better
Basics for the Home" - it's a great resource for recipes and tips for cleaning without synthetic chemicals
- Challenge yourself and your family to look at your water habits with a critical eye
re: Imagine now you're talkin' Sustainable- When purchasing new water-using appliances, look for the EPA Energy Star label – these dishwashers use 1/3
the water (4 gallons vs the usual 6 gallons per load) and clothes washers with this label save over 18 gallons per load
over their non-labeled counterparts.
you may also be eligible for a tax credit when purchasing some Energy Star appliances (see ww.energystar. gov to find out more) to save even more water with your new dishwasher, scrape instead of pre-rinsing the dishes before they go into the washer. Pre-rinsing can use up to 20gallons of water, and new dishwashers are designed to
handle this task (use the "pre-rinse" setting if dishes will sit overnight; this still uses a fraction of the water you
would use hand-rinsing)- Add filters to your shower and tub faucets, to reduce the chemicals (particularly chlorine) you are inhaling in the
steam, absorbing through your skin, and putting back into the system during every shower and bath
- support efforts to save local wetlands, clean up local waterways, and other local activities that focus on your water
supply
- Replace your toilets with models that have dual-flush options or less than 1.6 gallons per flush
- Invest in an in-line water filter to make tap water safer and tastier (these systems have larger filters that don't
need to be changed as often as the pitcher- or faucet-based ones do)
- Considering adding a swimming pool or other water feature to your property? A well-designed water feature can
add beauty and efficiency – perhaps as part of a rain-water catchment system (as tank or filter) or fire suppression
system (as holding tank) … find a pool or landscape designer who specializes in alternative or "green" design
- Another major addition worth considering: a Grey-water system separates drain lines so "black" water (from
toilets) goes on to the sewer system while "grey" water is reused for irrigation, filling toilet tanks, etc.
1: US EPA, www.epa.gov
2: Ideal Bite, www.idealbite.com
Water availability and cleanliness is often
the single factor that can bring about the
most profound change in poverty,
hunger, education, women's (and
children's) rights, and health crises
around the world - proof of the
importance and underlying foundation
that clean safe water brings to any group
of people.
For more information on the intricacies of
water issues, try these links:
global issues:
World Water Council
water and development issues
local water safety:
get your local drinking water report card
how to read the water report card
how water treatment plants work
sustainable water treatment
(check out the case studies)
water ecology:
adopt your local watershed
Stop polluting our water, starting at home
north pacific gyrechemicals of concern
(link to pdf of regulated chemicals in the public water supply)
1 2
- Place low-flow aerators on all your sink taps; this reduces the flow from the usual 2.0gpm (gallons per minute) to