Why is it bad to waste water?
- Why is wasting water bad?
- Cleaning the Water Before it Gets to You
- Cleaning the Water After You Are Done
- Save Money on Water
- The Water Source is Not Recycled
- How to Save Water
Why is wasting water bad?
Something I never really understood when I was younger — you see people making a fuss about saving water. Its not entirely obvious up front why wasting water is such a bad thing. For instance, fossil fuels — most people get it. There is only so much oil. When that oil is burned, it creates pollution, it creates greenhouse gases, the ice caps melt — most people understand that. But when it comes to water, why is wasting water such a bad thing?
I’m not talking about water in the desert — of course water in Arizona is at a premium and hard to come by. But in other areas of the country, water is extremely abundant. If you have a well pump, the water comes from the ground water table which is continually replenished — so why is taking such a long shower a bad thing in regards to wasting water in this case? Following is a list of reasons why wasting water is a bad thing.
Cleaning the Water Before it Gets to You
If you get water from a city water system, as many people do, it takes energy to clean the water. It its an expensive process to purify the water and treat it so that it does not contain contaminants. Water is treated with chlorine and sometimes fluoride and other chemical agents to properly treat the water to be safe and potable.
Cleaning the Water After You Are Done
Often times, our drains lead into the sewer system. The water from your faucet is combined with water from your toilet. This water contains human waste and as such it needs to be treated. A sewage disposal plant will need to treat the water, allowing bacteria to break down the sewage product before it is released (often into rivers).
Save Money on Water
The theme of this blog is not only to go green, but save money doing it. Many of us ignore water bills because they, on average, are far less costly than the electric bill. Even with that being the case, a water bill is a considerable expense. In today’s economy we need to save all the money we can. Letting water run unneeded for extended periods of time is like dumping cash down the drain.
The Water Source is Not Recycled
Many of us have a vague concept of what goes on with water that goes down the drain, thinking that somehow it gets recycled and we reuse it. In reality, most water for city systems comes from lakes. The water enters the city water system from the lake and goes to your house. After you are done using the water, it goes to a sewage treatment plant and then on to a river. This is what happens with most water — it starts from lakes and ends up in rivers which eventually find their way to the ocean. The only way it gets recycled is if it evaporates along the way and rains its way back into the lake. There is a constant drain on water reserves and, depending on how often it rains (or doesn’t rain), water becomes scarce during drier seasons.
How to Save Water
So water has to be cleaned before it gets to you. It has to be cleaned when you are done with it. It depletes local water tables and lakes and raises your monthly water bill. Are you convinced that saving water is good for both your pocket and for the environment and society in general? Good! Now you are probably wondering some good ways of conserving water. Here are a few ways.
- Take shorter showers. The author of this blog (myself) lives in the Philippines. Sometimes, the water goes out here at odd times. When there is no pumping water but I get myself a bucket of clean water — you would be surprised how clean you can get with such a small amount of water.
- Fill up a cup of water to use when brushing your teeth. It is a common practice to turn the faucet on and leave it running nonstop while brushing teeth, which can last a few minutes. Resist that temptation by putting a glass next to the sink which you can use to hold water and rinse from after brushing your teeth.
- Consider ways to conserve water on landscaping. Many people water their lawns and other shrubbery to keep it nice and green looking. Consider other options. Astroturf has come a long way in recent years, not only will it reduce your need to water, it will also reduce your need for maintaining your lawn with mowing (which not only wastes your time, it also consumes fossil fuel and creates pollution when you use a lawn mower).
- Set up a Water Runoff Barrel.If you feel the need to water your landscaping — consider a barrel to capture water runoff from your roof. Use this water for your plants or lawn to conserve water. You can also use the water for things such as washing your vehicles.
These are a few ideas that will make a huge impact with saving and conserving water.
