In the United States, we are fortunate enough to have easy access to some of the world’s cleanest and safest treated water. Everyday we wake up in the morning, brush our teeth, take a shower, and head out for the day. Water plays an important role in our daily lives and we utilize it for a variety of purposes.
According to the United State’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the average American family uses more than 300 gallons of water per day at home. Roughly 70 percent of this use occurs indoors, while the remaining percentage accounts for outdoor use. These statistics fluctuate in drier parts of the country and in more water-intensive landscapes. For instance, the landscape irrigation in the arid Western portions of the country results in some of the highest per capita residential water use.
Water also plays an important role outside of our homes. It’s often easy to forget that we use water in ways that we don’t see every day. The nation requires water to grow our food, manufacture our favorite goods, and keep our businesses running smoothly. We also use a substantial amount of the resource to meet the nation’s energy needs.
Water conservation has become a popular topic in sustainability education. The general public often forgets that this natural resource is limited. Less than 1 percent of the Earth’s water supply is available for human use. The remaining amount is either salt water found in oceans, fresh water frozen in the polar ice caps, or too inaccessible for practical usage. The majority of water that we use begins as rain or snow and flows into our lakes, rivers and streams, or into underground aquifers.
The population and demand for these freshwater resources continues to increase, but the supply will always remain constant. And while the water cycle continuously returns the water we use to Earth, it is not always returned to the same place, or in the same quantity and quality.
Water management is a growing concern in the United States. Communities across the nation are facing challenges to keep up with the growing demand for water. This hardship requires advancements in water infrastructure. Engineers, technicians, and various organizations are currently searching for better, more effective water treatment techniques.
Several small-scale techniques harness water outside of our typical freshwater sources. For instance, desalination processes exist that convert salt water into freshwater. Given that 97% of the Earth’s water contains salt, this method appears to be an obvious solution to our problem. Unfortunately, the desalination techniques that currently exist require a large amount of energy and cost a great deal of money to produce a substantial amount of safe freshwater. Researchers continue to explore these types of processes, but in the meantime encourage water conservation.
There are countless ways to reduce water usage. One of the most popular suggestions consists of simply turning off the water facet when not in use. For instance, people can conserve up to ten gallons of water just by washing dishes in a standing pool of water instead of letting the water run throughout the entire process. Similarly, shorter showers save a substantial amount of water and energy. Homes with electric water heaters exhaust nearly 25% of the electric usage for heating water.
While conserving water may not always be convenient or conducive to the lavish lifestyles we’re accustomed to, it helps to eliminate the drain of freshwater from the environment and reduces energy costs.
If the demand for freshwater continues to exceed the current water supply, Americans will see a rise in water and electrical prices, as well as an increase in water restrictions during shortages. In addition, the ever-changing, unpredictable climate changes will continue to threaten the water supply in the years to come.
Water conservation, although tedious, is necessary to sustain the water reservoirs we depend on. This concept, as a small component of sustainable living, will certainly gain popularity as people educate themselves and realize both the personal and environmental benefits of conserving water.