When you think of saving water, you’re probably thinking about the amount of water you use to wash up, cook food, and flush toilets – the kind of water you pay for on your water bill.
But Saving Water is all about reducing the amount of water it takes to support your lifestyle. The amount of water your lifestyle requires is much more than the amount it takes to wash your hotel sheets, flush your toilets, and water your lawn. In fact, over 90% of the fresh water in the world is used to produce agricultural products: food, cotton, paper.
You can do something to save the world every day at every meal and every time you make a decision about buying something.
What we do here at Saving Water is based on the water footprint approach to assessing fresh water use. This is an international standard supported by all the scientific review and consensus that comes with international standards. So we’re not creating the standard for assessing water use. We’re just helping folks understand what this all means.
You’ve likely heard of carbon footprint and may even have heard about ecological footprint. Like carbon footprint, water footprint is an aspect of how we impact our environment.
Carbon footprint affects climate change on a global scale over many years. Some people argue that human activities aren’t even the main contributor to climatic changes the world has been experiencing.
Water footprint, on the other hand, has an immediate impact on the environment and peoples of the world. Because of global trade, you might not personally witness the impact your water consumption creates for plants, animals, and people. But it can be measured here and now. Unfortunately, we’re currently seeing economic and environmental devastation in some parts of the world that can be directly traced to water use.
The world needs your help – we look forward to explaining what choices you can make for a truly sustainable future for us all.
Meg is an engineer with a BS in Physics from George Mason University and a MS in Product Development (combined Systems Engineering and Masters in Business Administration curriculum) from Naval Postgraduate School.