Yesterday was World Water Day and TODAY is World Water Advocacy Day! This is an opportunity to write your Congressional members to advocate water, sanitation and hygiene programs in developing countries. Also you can encourage the continued protection of waterways, rivers and lakes here at home. Raise awareness by posting to Facebook or Twitter here.
And, find out where the water you so conveniently access simply by turning on the faucet comes from.
The best thing we can do is USE LESS in our daily lives. The average 8 minute shower uses 20 gallons of H2O, wow! I remember growing up, we would fill a basin with warm water and wash all of our dishes, rinsing them all, at once, with another small basin full. Guess what we did with the dirty water…threw it on the yard! So, when did we become so wasteful? Is it that we are so far removed from the process? Unlike, a family in rural Africa that has to physically walk a few miles to get safe drinking water, all we have to do is turn a lever. I guarantee we wouldn’t run a half-full dishwasher if we first had to lug the average 10 gallons it uses from the other side of town. Consider ways you can use less in your own life. Set a timer and challenge yourself to taking a 5 minute shower. Collect the extra water you waste waiting for water to get hot; you can water your plants with it! Fix any leaks in your faucets. When we lived in the mountains we would collect rainwater for the garden. What are some ways you save water?
One more thing! Dams like the Hoover supply water to crops and people and generate 16% of the worlds’ electricity. They also displace millions of people and destroy river systems by disrupting natural flood patters, fish migrations and drying up wetlands.
So does hydro-power make sustainable sense? Read on here from the World Wildlife Fund.
Also, check out this article on the correlation between wasting food and wasting water.
