Water Saving Ideas Now!

If you were to ask me what I think is the most imminent environmental problem of the day, my resolute answer would be: water scarcity. Don't get me wrong, by now you know that I truly care about climate change and our need to transition to sustainable energy solutions.

But water scarcity is an especially sensitive issue because:

1) Nobody seems to know about it...well, at least not in the developed world.

2) Tap water is so cheap in developed countries that users have little incentive to cut their demand by implementing water saving ideas.

Is Water Scarcity a problem of the 3rd World?

Most people actually think that water scarcity is a problem limited to the so called "underdeveloped world". That's only partly accurate and may prove shortsighted. The only sure thing is that people in the developing world are the ones presently suffering from day-to-day water scarcity.

The United Nations Developing Programme (UNDP) states that in order to meet their basic sanitation and drinking water needs, a person needs access to a minimum threshold requirement of 20 liters each day.  In its 2006 Human Development Report, "Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis", the UNDP reports that in Europe people are using over 200 liters of water per day.

Do you want to take a guess of how much we are using in the U.S? It’s actually more than 400 liters per person, every day!
No wonder we are not feeling water scarcity yet. It’s great that we have access to clean water here but do we really need all that water? The answer is no, there is a tremendous amount of waste. And that presents us with an opportunity! There are innumerable water saving ideas that we can implement to cut down waste.

Water Scarcity as a Global Issue

Freshwater resources are not unlimited. Let me give you some statistics to convince you that water scarcity is a global problem:

» The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) on its 2007 Global Environmental Outlook
predicted that by 2025 water demand will be 56% greater than the available resources. As a result, 2/3 (66%) of the world population will live in areas of water shortages and 1/3 (33%) will live under complete water scarcity.

» We have been pumping groundwater at a rate that exceeds the natural replenishment rate. This means we are taking water out of the hydrological cycle, water that will not return to fill rivers, lakes and reservoirs.

» U.S. water problems: This problem is not limited to the third world. At least 36 out of the 50 states in the U.S. will experience water shortages within the next decade.

These stats are only the tip of the ice berg. In my “Water Saving Ideas Now!” series, I will cover issues with clean freshwater availability, pollution, human rights, heath care challenges, disease, agriculture, technology, economic development, and gender inequality, among others.

Are you surprised that all these issues are linked to the single topic of water management and distribution?
Well, water is life… no wonder it effects every part of our livelihood.
[via joingreenrevolution.com]