The corporate social responsibility newswire, CSR, recently reported that H20 Conserve has made available online a calculator for determining daily amounts of individual water use. H20 Conserve is a coalition of public interest organizations drawing attention to the world's ever increasing water crisis.
The calculator asks questions that elicit information about lifestyle in order to determine total water use by taking into account amounts of water used to produce the products, food and energy a person uses in addition to personal daily use of water. Every aspect of our lives is connected to water. We use water to make electricity, to grow food and to make the things we use and wear. It takes 24 gallons of water to make a pound of plastic. It takes more than one hundred gallons of water to make a pound of cotton. 40 percent of our country's fresh water resources, it is estimated, are consumed by Power plants.
American Toilet
The average American, based on the Calculator results, uses 1,189.3 gallons of water per day!
Personal use of water has always been estimated at between one hundred and two hundred gallons per person. This includes use of water for flushing of toilets, showers, laundry, hand washing and outdoor watering. The national average is about two hundred gallons but with increased rationing and water saving steps underway in many of the drought states the variation is dramatic.
The Calculator measures personal water use in a different manner. It takes account of the water used to produce the products people use in their personal lives. When this method of water gets factored in it becomes immediately obvious that we are heading for a problem about water. Water sustains our life style, our food production, our product production and a large part of our electricity production.
The demand for water is growing both in the United States and worldwide. There are various reasons why this is so:
increased demand for water as populations increase.
expanding industrial use of water to make more products.
increased agricultural irrigation as a result of drought conditions.
personal use of water for lawns, shrubs and gardens.
While demand for water is growing, the availability of usable water is declining. There are three main reasons why this is so:
climate change and weather shifts are creating drought conditions.
water sources are becoming more and more contaminated by runoff stormwater,
by industrial waste, with agricultural runoff and with private sector wastewater.
Even sewage treatment plants are disCharging treated wastewater that contaminates water sources with medicines and drugs that do not dissolve and, in many cases, with nutrients.
the aquifers are being drawn down ever more rapidly.
Our world is changing. There are so many more people on earth. Industrialization is occurring on a scale never before seen. This has led to ever increasing needs for food, energy, fuel and water. As the laws of Supply and demand come into play, prices for these basics of life become more expensive - and the basics of life become more scarce. It is simply not something we Americans expected. The last time our nation experienced widespread problems about basic necessities was during the Great Depression and World War II.
Even the gasoline shortage for several years during the 1970's was different than what is happening now with water because that was a crisis triggered only by reduced oil production. Also, it was temporary. What is happening now is not temporary. There will never again be a surplus of fresh water for the earth. The high cost of fuel, energy, food and plastics is not likely to be temporary. The cost of water will rise dramatically.
Yes, breakthroughs in alternative sources of energy could happen in a way that reverses the price trend for energy. But this will not happen overnight. The demands for water will continue to increase. The high cost of water and, therefore the high cost of living, is going up and is likely to be with us for a very long time to come. Water and sewer bills will continue going up. The electric bill will continue rising. Less use of water will be the order of the day.
Step one: start noticing and tracking your use of water. Stay alert for reports about which products require more water to be produced. Start thinking about ways to use less water and to manage your use of water more efficiently.
The Shocking Answer to How Much Water We Really Use
Losoncy is the president of Clean Up America, Inc, a company that markets an evaporation, waterless, non discharge toilet know as the Eloo. To learn more go to http://www.Eloo.US
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