10 easy ways to save water, our liquid blue gold |
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On the eve of World Earth Day, we would like to share a few useful tips on how to reduce water consumption in your household and make every precious drop count.
Although water is considered a renewable energy source, the clean, freshwater resources of the Earth are not boundless. Moreover, water resources are becoming increasingly scarce and limited.
For example, according to current estimates, each person in Croatia consumes approximately 150 litres of water per day.
Understanding your daily water consumption
Just by making small changes in your daily life, you can make a difference to the health of our planet and help reduce your own environmental impact.
Simple adjustments to your daily habits can save hundreds of litres of water, which is nowadays considered "our blue gold" by many water experts, and will probably be even more valuable in the future.
To begin with, how much water does the average household consume?
On average a shower uses 7,5 litres of water per minute, whereas a full bath wastes more than 136 litres of water.
Brushing your teeth with the tap off will use about 3 litres of water per minute. The same amount of water is needed for washing your face and hands.
The largest water consumers inside the home are flush toilets, clothes washers and dishwashers.
Older toilet models waste up to 10 litres of water per flush, whereas the modern ones are more water-efficient and use 3 to 6 litres of water per flush.
While modern clothes washers use an average of 95 litres of water per load, older and less efficient models can use around 150 litres for each load.
Each complete cycle of a dishwasher uses as much as 75 litres of water.
If you hand-wash your dishes, you will use 7-15 litres of water per minute, depending on the kitchen tap.
A leaking toilet, tap or valve can waste up to 700 litres of water per day!
The dangers of consumerism
Our fresh water resources face a host of serious threats. They include agricultural pollution (the use of pesticides and fertilizers in global agricultural practices), industrial pollution, unfiltered household wastewater, deforestation, accumulation of waste due to its improper disposal, water loss in the distribution networks of many water supply systems.
The global industrial development also affects water resources – various industries use vast amounts of water on a daily basis so that we could afford ourselves new and fashionable clothes, buy our children new toys, wear unique fashion accessories and simply enjoy all the "benefits" of consumerism.
For example, the soda industry wastes shockingly huge amounts of water. It takes 23 litres of clean water to produce half a litre of popular soda beverage, with a grey water footprint of 12 litres.
Environmentalists urge caution over a huge island of trash floating in the Pacific Ocean, also known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.
The so-called Eight Continent is formed primarily of plastic waste gathered in ocean currents and trade winds. It consists of about 3.5 million tons of trash, mostly non-decomposed plastic waste.
It is thought that the patch formed gradually as a result of oceanic pollution gathered by oceanic currents and is estimated to be bigger than the size of India.
There are numerous indicators that clearly illustrate how human behaviour disrupts the natural environment and threatens environmental sustainability.
Although many parts of the world do possess abundant water resources, there is still a shortage of clean drinking water.
This is primarily due to human activity, its irrational use of natural resources and disrespect for the Nature and its ecosystems.
If present trends continue, the situation looks bleak for future generations, which will unfortunately have to suffer the tragic consequences of our attitude towards Nature and its resources.
Use the following tips to save every precious drop of water
Here is what you can do to significantly reduce water loss, cut your water costs, improve water efficiency and enhance environmental awareness.
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1) Check your faucets, pipes and toilets regularly for leaks and fix any leaky taps. This can save up to 700 litres of water per day. 2) Choose smart appliances and install water-saving devices for your kitchen and bathroom: water-efficient faucets (with flow restrictors), low-flow shower heads as well as water-saving toilets. Water saved: 15 litres per minute 3) Take a shower instead of a bath. Save the baths for special occasions. Water saved: 20 litres per minute. 4) Do not rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Before running the dishwasher, wait until you have a full load. Water saved: 20 litres per load. 5) Wash only full loads in the clothes washer. Washing machines operate at maximum efficiency when the drum is full. Washing small load uses over twice as much water per pound of laundry. 6) When purchasing a new appliance, consider its energy consumption and efficiency rates. Thus you can save both water and energy at the same time. Water saved: 150 litres per load. 7) Don't let the water run while washing your hands, brushing your teeth or rinsing dishes. Water saved: 3 to 5 litres per minute 8) Choose glass and other environmentally safe materials over plastic bottles and containers. By doing this, you will help reduce the amount of water used in producing, transporting and disposing plastic packaging. 9) Consider adopting a vegetarian eating style. Modern farming is extremely expensive and puts an incredible strain on natural resources, consumes huge amounts of water and turns into an increasingly environmentally-unfriendly practice. 10) Avoid buying new water-intensive products, such as cotton, electronic and paper, which all require a lot of water in their production. Try buying used clothing and recycled paper whenever possible and resist the urge to buy a new gadget every year if your existing device is in working order. |
The sources used for this article include:
[url=http://www.earthshare.org]http://www.earthshare.org[/url]
[url=http://www.web.cs.ucdavis.edu]http://www.web.cs.ucdavis.edu[/url]
[url=http://www.greenpeace.org]http://www.greenpeace.org[/url]
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