Hello everyone! Welcome to our last official civic issues blog! I am so sad because there is still so much I want to learn and teach others about. Choosing a topic for this week was difficult because there were so many options. I relied on my memory as a child and thought of some of the basic advice I received on Earth Day to help save the planet.  

“Turn off the tap water when brushing your teeth.” 

Since I have received that advice in elementary school, I have followed through in being conscientious of my water usage. But why do we need to do this? In America, we have plenty of fresh, filtered water to drink from. Why do we need to care about water conservation and how much is turning off the tap for a couple of minutes a day going to help the issue? 

Why Should We Care About Our Water Usage? 

There is a common misconception that there is an unlimited supply of water for human usage. This is a misconception because while water is renewable, water is not always easily accessible.  Different stages of the water cycle can take a long time to complete. Water can also be located in different areas of the world, in uneven quantities. This means that sometimes, depending on your location, water can be very difficult to access.

This all becomes important when we think of our usage of water. Humans mainly use water in the form of freshwater. If freshwater in the water cycle is hard for us to access, then it can’t be used by humans. For example, water that is frozen in glaciers is very difficult, if not impossible to extract for human use. But what about the vast seas and oceans? 

Sea water can’t be used directly to provide drinking water as its salt content is too high and the processes to remove the salt come at a huge financial cost.  There is also a large energy requirement and environmental impact of the desalination of sea water (the heat from the sun naturally does this in the water cycle, turning the sea water into gas through evaporation and leaving behind the salt). 

From an environmental point of view, by looking to use sea water you would be taking a natural habitat away from the world’s marine creatures and organisms.  The occasional use of sea water is of course an option that gets looked at, but would the negatives of such a large-scale operation outweigh the positives?  

This is important when looking at percentages. Ninety-seven percent of all water on the earth is saltwater, which is not suitable for drinking. Only 3% of the water on Earth is freshwater, and only 0.5% is available for drinking. The other 2.5% of freshwater is locked in ice caps, glaciers, the atmosphere, soil, or under the earth’s surface, or is too polluted for consumption. 

The bottom line? 

Water usage needs to be carefully monitored and not taken advantage of as everyone is susceptible to a water shortage. Climate change is only amplifying this problem as precipitation and weather conditions are more volatile making it hard to ensure stable water supplies. 

Water Usage in Less Developed Countries 

When first thinking of a water crisis, images of less developed countries come to mind. While more developed countries certainly have to worry as well, let’s discuss water shortages in places we traditionally associate it with.

Water connects every aspect of life. Access to safe water and sanitation can quickly turn problems into potential – empowering people with time for school and work, and contributing to improved health for women, children, and families around the world.  

Today, 785 million people – 1 in 9 – lack access to safe water and 2 billion people – 1 in 3 – lack access to a toilet. These are the people we empower. 

Reasons why people don’t have access to clean water: 

1. Lack of infrastructure and poor management of services.
   • Efforts have been made to reach more people with more water. However, governments need to do more in ensuring water supplies are sustainable and commit to improving infrastructure. 
2. Poverty and inequality 
   • Access to water, sanitation, and hygiene are a basic human right and yet some people are still unable to access these services due to their ethnicity, gender, social status, disability or inability to afford the high costs. 
3. Climate change 
   • Climate change and an increase in unpredictable and extreme weather is a growing challenge. Long periods of drought affect clean water supplies while flooding can pollute clean water sources and cause outbreaks of disease. 
4. Population increase
   • The world’s population is predicted to grow to 8.5 billion by 2030 and 9.7 billion by 2050. This is going to create a high demand and put a strain on already scarce and fragile water sources.

Impact of lack of access to clean water:

1. Women and Girls 
   • In many communities girls are tasked with collecting the households water. If supplies are scarce or the community is isolated it means girls are spending hours of their day to walk great distances to collect water from streams, rivers and unprotected wells. This means less time for paid work and going to school. 
2. Livelihood 
   • Rural communities who rely on farming for their livelihoods are the most vulnerable to climate change and water shortages. Increased temperatures, changes in season, and prolonged dry spells affect crops and livestock and therefore a person’s ability to earn a living. 
3. Health 
   • As the effects of climate change and rising temperatures increase, so does the prevalence of waterborne diseases such as cholera and trachoma. The World Health Organisation also warns that incidences of mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue will also rise. Another impact of unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene is malnutrition. In fact up to 50% of malnutrition cases are said to be a result of this. 

 

Water Usage in the United States 

Now, if you are thinking that it’s sad others have to deal with having no/ limited access to a human need, but it doesn’t directly affect you, keep reading. Water shortages will have an impact on you no matter where you are.

The United States has immense amounts of water. The country has an estimated 4.3 percent of the world’s population yet contains more than 7 percent of global renewable freshwater resources. It is home to the largest freshwater lake system in the world, the Great Lakes, which holds 6 quadrillion gallons of water (that’s a 6 followed by 15 zeros). And the Mississippi River flows at 4.4 million gallons per second at its mouth in New Orleans, which supplies water to about 15 million people along the way. 

However, the U.S. also faces some stark realities

• On average, each American uses 80 to 100 gallons of water every day, with the nation’s estimated total daily usage topping 345 billion gallons—enough to sink the state of Rhode Island under a foot of water.
• 96 of the 204 water basins that supply most of the country’s freshwater could fail to meet monthly demands starting in 2071. 
• Rising sea levels due to climate change can taint freshwater coastal aquifers, salinating otherwise usable drinking water. 
• In terms of water usage, Americans use nearly twice the global amount. This presents issues like lower availability and equity in water distribution. 
• Certain areas of the country already experience decreased water levels because of high demand. 
• Recent droughts have been some of the worst in history. For example, in 2012, 81% of the country experienced abnormally dry conditions.  
• A report by the Natural Resources Defense Council and Tetra Tech found that 70 percent of US counties could face water shortages by 2050 because of pressure from climate change, population increases and economic growth.  

Drought in the United States can cause a number of significant challenges, including: 

• Reduced agricultural output 
• Transportation disruption 
• Wildfires 
• Energy unreliability 

Water Demand 

As the U.S. water supply decreases, demand is set to increase. By 2100 the U.S. population will have increased by nearly 200 million, with a total population of some 514 million people. Given that we use water for everything, the simple math is that more people mean more water stress across the country. 

The effects of decreasing supply and increasing demand are already being felt. The Colorado River carved its way 1,450 miles from the Rockies to the Gulf of California for millions of years, but now no longer reaches the sea. In 2018, parts of the Rio Grande recorded their lowest water levels ever; Arizona essentially lives under permanent drought conditions; and in South Florida’s freshwater aquifers are increasingly susceptible to salt water intrusion due to over-extraction. 

Hope? 

A promising trend has emerged over the past 20 years or more with people and enterprises in the United States withdrawing and using less water. Since the previous USGS water report in 2010, the US has reduced its water withdrawals by 9 percent, which is the lowest recorded level in 45 years. Much of this is due to greater deployment of water and energy-efficient fixtures, technologies and processes, yet much more must be done. 

So, Will Turning the Tap Off Help? 

We discussed how large the issue of water usage and the shortage is, so what can we do to help? 

People are recommended to brush their teeth for two minutes. If the tap runs in that time, an average of 4.4 gallons of water will be used. Multiply this for the twice-recommended daily brushing, and that’s 8.8 gallons of water used needlessly per day by only a single individual. 

While that can be hard to picture, think of it this way: a family of four who diligently turns off their faucet every time they brush will save 11,000 gallons a year — more than a month of average water usage. So by doing this simple action, that household can cut their water use from 12 months to 10-and-a-half months, saving 13 percent on their water bill — about $65 a year for the average household. 

While this may not seem much to the average American, and the relatively cheap bill is a reason many do not see value in conserving water, it is a huge privilege. Many people in the world today don’t have access to clean water and would be appalled to see water casually running out of the faucet unused while we brush our teeth. 

But according to a survey from Red Fuse Communications, 42 percent of Americans still leave the water running while they brush. That’s a lot of water going straight down the drain 

It’s not just water that’s wasted when it runs down the drain, but electricity as well. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, electricity is needed to run a pump to push water from a water tower, a large container where a city’s water is held, to your sink. If you brush your teeth with warm water, you further waste the electricity your water heater used to heat that water. 

Concluding Thoughts

Every individual can save more water at home in multiple ways, such as turning off the tap when brushing your teeth. These are such small actions, but taken by many, they could amount to the biggest water savings―and we’re going to need every drop! 

Click to find your own water footprint!

 

Sources: 

https://www.watercalculator.org/footprint/how-united-states-uses-water/  

https://online.ecok.edu/articles/water-shortages-in-the-us/  

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/partner-content-americas-looming-water-crisis  

https://water.org/our-impact/water-crisis/ 

https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/why-do-so-many-people-still-struggle-to-access-cle/  

https://get-green-now.com/why-conserve-water-if-its-renewable-all-about-the-water-cycle/  

https://www.redandblack.com/opinion/opinion-turn-the-water-off-when-you-brush-your-teeth-to-help-the-environment-in/article_8d635894-48e0-11e8-9ec9-6b9ddb6468f2.html 

https://lifehacker.com/turn-off-the-water-while-you-brush-your-teeth-1838528112  

 

Spoiler: Barney gave great advice!