Mindful Water Use While Traveling: Tourism and Water Scarcity

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Source: www.harpersbazaar.com
Many cities and countries rely on tourism to keep their economies strong. For example, tourism in Bali accounts for 80% of its economy. Additionally, 65% of its water usage is dedicated to tourism. 65%. A Medium Corporation notes that "tourists consume inordinately more water than locals, raising vary valid concerns about water inequities in developing nations." For Bali, that means only 35% of water is utilized or accessible to the locals. 

 Yet, what happens when there's a push for more tourism when the entire country, city or state is in a water crisis? Well, the government tries to make adjustments so that it can manage the needs of the people as well as the needs of the economy. For example, many hotels have invested in EcoRooms, which are designed with specific water-saving technology such as water-saving shower heads, ultra-flush efficient toilets (known as HET), and sink aerators. OptiShower, a company in Portugal is providing hotels with strategies to reduce water and energy consumption and increase profits. The company motivates tourists to monitor their consumption by linking their use to hotel program rewards. 

 The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also launched the H20tel Water Challenge in February 2014 to encourage hotels to be more aware of their water-use footprint. The program encourages them to ACT: Assess, Change, and Track. So far 860 hotels around the United States have signed up with the program.
Source: waterfootprint.org

 So how can you be a good water consumer while traveling, especially to places battling water scarcity? For starters, you can monitor you own personal consumption of water by taking shorter showers. Additionally, as A Medium Corporation notes, you can also go a step further by choosing to support hotels who are engaging in water conservation efforts. If you're traveling within the United States be sure to check out this list of hotels that have signed up for the EPA's H20tel Water Challenge. 

 Besides, if contributing to these efforts means that our children, grandchildren, and even great grandchildren get the opportunity to experience the beauty of some our endangered natural environments, wouldn't it be worth it take a shorter shower, or choose a more conscientious hotel?

To read more about the H20tel Water Challenge: https://www.epa.gov/watersense/h2otel-challenge
To learn more about OptiShower: http://www.optishower.com  

 Sources for Blog:

https://medium.com/@WTTC/water-scarcity-and-stewardship-d4bb78da0a5d
https://www.tourism-review.com/bali-water-crisis-caused-by-tourism-news3376

Demetra Fields

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