Water
What You Can Do
Water Less
- Fix leaky faucets and toilets (A small leak from a faucet can waste 50 gallons of water a day and a leaky toilet can waste 260 gallons a day.)
- Always wash full loads of clothes and dishes. (Washing machines use 30 to 60 gallons of water for the wash cycle)
- Install high efficiency showerheads, faucets and toilets. (High efficiency showerheads, which cost about $15, can reduce water use by 50%. Water efficient toilets use 50 to 80% less water.)
- Water lawns and gardens in the evening or early in the morning to avoid excessive evaporation. (On average, about 35% of household water goes to tending yards)
- Replant your yard with native wildflowers, shrubs, grasses and groundcovers.(Native plants are less-water intensive especially in arid climates)
- Use fertilizers and pesticides sparingly and carefully. (Residential use of pesticides accounts for about 8% of all pesticide applications. Urban runoff accounts for about 14% of common water pollution and just over half of that is due to residential use of fertilizers).
Support Water Wise Public Investments
Upgrading and repairing infrastructure can reduce the amount of water wasted in urban areas and allow cities to extend services to other areas.
- As much as 60 percent of water is lost through leaky pipes.
- Boston, Massachusetts avoided having to divert two large rivers to increase its water supply by repairing leaky pipes and installing water-saving fixtures in public buildings.
- Water treatment plants can be modernized so that they are more efficient and recycle wastewater for non-drinking water use.
Conservation of land can help improve water quality
- Protecting watersheds is less costly than trying to make polluted water safe for drinking.
- Cities can also treat wastewater more inexpensively through the use of wetlands.
Choose Water Wise Food & Farmers
Worldwide, agriculture accounts for more than 70 percent of freshwater consumption, mainly for irrigation of agricultural crops. Farmers can make several changes in how they use irrigation water, such as switching to drip irrigation, which reduces the amount of water used by 30-70 percent while increasing crop yields. Another way to reduce the amount of water used for irrigation is to adjust our diets.
- Seek out and support local farmer's markets. They reduce the amount of pesticides and fungicides used on foods that wind up in our water supplies. (Of the 28 most commonly used pesticides, at least 23 are carcinogenic and wind up in our water supplies).
- Eat less meat (Producing a quarter pound hamburger requires at least 100 gallons of water) (It takes 15,000 tons of water to produce a ton of beef, while a ton of grain only requires 1,000 tons).
Protect Our Waterways
More than half of the world's major rivers are being seriously depleted and polluted. Sadly much of the pollution comes from non-point source pollution or the run-off from individuals. We can change that by:
- Reduce household pollutants by cutting down and properly disposing of herbicides, pesticides and cleaning products. Never pour oil, engine fluids, cleaners or household chemicals into storm drains or down the sink.
- Always be sure that used motor oil is recycled or disposed of properly.
- Reduce pollution from cars and trucks. (An estimated 44 percent of water pollution comes from land-based pathways. An additional 33 percent is airborne pollution that is carried by winds).
Support Smart Water Policies
- Invest in smart water infrastructure and technologies
- Increase environmental regulations of polluting industries
- Tell government leaders to fulfill financial pledges for clean water
- Ensure that water is not treated as a commodity.