Water Consumption in the US

Recent environmental concerns have focused on the dreaded global warming, but another more immediate area of concern involves the shortage of fresh water. Vital to all life, running out of fresh water has already had an impact upon our environment worldwide.  Water saving measures play a key role in out future.

A few of these impacts are a major salmon die-off in the Western United States due to too little fresh water, as well as a 25% reduction of farmland in Australia, this also due to water-related problems.

Are Water Wars in Our Future?

And while I’m sure most of us agree that many countries’ interests in the recent wars in the Middle East boil down to worry over control of the vital oil resources located there, future wars will be fought over an even more vital resource: water.

On average, the U.S. alone uses about 345 BILLION gallons of fresh water per day. While a majority of this is used for irrigation and the cooling of electric power plants — a whopping 136 billion gallons each day — each person uses 165 gallons per day. This figure includes the water it takes to produce the electricity we use in our daily lives. Overall, this comes out to about 47 billion gallons for public and domestic use.

Protect Fresh Water Supplies

In essence, using less electricity is as important as using less water. In this way we can, in our own small way, have an impact on both global warming and protecting our precious fresh water supplies. This may seem like only a small impact at best, but if enough people become energy conscious and put that into action in and around their homes, a major difference can be made toward a better tomorrow.

Water saving by reduced consumption

While cutting back on electrical consumption is one way to save on water, there are ways one can cut back on actual water consumption in the home that will have a more immediate impact. The following are ideas to help you save water in the home:

Faucets and Showers

To reduce water discharge from faucets and showerheads, add an attachment, a low-flow fixture, or a flow reducer in the water pipe.  This water saving technique has no noticable effect on your lifestyle.

Toilets

While current regulations require that toilets use 1.7 gallons per flush or less, older toilet tanks hold more water than necessary. One way to cut the amount of water used in older tanks is to fill plastic bottles with water and keep these in the tank.

This will reduce the volume of water in the tank while still maintaining the depth required for proper flushing velocity. There are also toilets available that have modified bowls and traps that require less water per flush.  This a great water saving trick!

Pressure-Reducing Valves

Installing a pressure-reducing valve can maintain adequate water pressure to the home. Too much pressure wastes water through high flow rates. An adequate pressure is 50 pounds per square inch.

Hot Water

Insulating hot water pipes keeps the water hot and reduces waste as the tap can be turned off when not in use. Also, installing point-of-use water heaters, which are separate units beneath the various sinks throughout a home, gives you instant hot water.

In this way, you also save electricity or natural gas as you don’t have to wait for the hot water to travel from a conventional water heater. They range in capacity from two to four gallons and operate on a variety of energy sources, from normal house voltage, to propane, to natural gas.

Dishwashers and Washing Machines

While modifying older models is not practical, there are currently water saving models available that can reduce water consumption.  Not only that, they newer technology units are quieter and clean better.