About the Water We Waste

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One-third of the countries are still facing water shortages, but other countries and people with abundant water resources are still being ignorant about the fact that how much is done to preserve and ensure proper management of this invaluable and life giving resource. We are still very bad at managing freshwater resources, and in fact in that process we have created deserts and poisoned millions of hectares of land with salt and killed entire lakes. Moreover, the mismanagement of freshwater resource is also causing floods and droughts to some parts of the earth. Fresh water is a vital resource for the survival of our population. Less than 1% of the world's water is freshwater and available for us to consume. In places where clean water is scarce, overusing or wasting household water limits the availability of it for other communities to use for drinking, cleaning, cooking, or growing, which leads to disease, illness or agricultural scarcity/starvation. What are some factors that people with abundant resources do to mismanage the usage of water? Are there any possible solution to come up with and practice?

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There are some facts about the water we waste and how people waste it.

1. Letting the water run when brushing your teeth or shaving. The fact is that two gallons per minute are wasted. In order to solve this, installing a low flow aerator on the faucet, which can save more than 140 gallons of water a month.

2. Not using a stopper when filling the sink to wash dishes by hand.

3. Running the faucet until it becomes cool instead of refrigerating a container of drinking water.

4. Running a dishwasher that is not full.

5. Taking long showers without using low flow showerhead. This can reduce the shower time by 1-2 minutes that can save up to 700 gallons per month. 

6. Over-filling the bathtub instead of using the necessary amount.

7. Washing less than full loads in the clothes washer. Typical clothes washers use 35-50 gallons per load whether full or not.

8. Not regularly checking and repairing leaks inside the home. 

9. Using the garden hose without a shutoff nozzle.

10. Using the toilet as a wastebasket, which wastes up to 5 gallons per flush.

11. Over a quarter of all the clean, drinkable water you use in your home is used to flush the toilets. 

12. Americans now use 127 percent more water than we did in 1950.

13. About 95 percent of the water entering our homes goes down the drain.

14. Some experts estimate that more than 50 percent of landscape water use goes to waste due to evaporation or runoff caused by over-watering. 

15. Many people in the world exist on 3 gallons of water per day or less. We can use that amount in one flush of the toilet. 

As you may have already guessed, there are some ways to reduce water waste.

1. Check and fix leaky faucets and pipes.

2. Do laundry only when you have a full load.

3. Same goes for the dishwasher.

4. Don't use the toilet as a garbage.

5. Cut showers by 5 minutes.

6. Have a conservationist car wash.

7. Sweep paved areas.

8. No watering when it is not necessary.

These are the simple ways to practice daily, but there must be more than this to save water for the whole world.

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