Shortage of freshwater has negative effects on farming, businesses, households and infrastructures. Therefore, safeguarding freshwater should fall within every person’s responsibility and – consequently – habits. However, why is it important saving water and what each of us can actually do to achieve this goal? We will try to answer to these questions in this article.
Almost three quarters of Earth’s surface is covered by water. About 97% of the total amount of water found on our planet is salt water. 2.5% of total water resources is to be found in ice caps, in glaciers, under the Earth’s surface, in the atmosphere and in the soil. Also, some of it has been polluted. Consequently, the world’s population is left with only 0.5% of drinkable water.
This being considered, we should also take into account the fact that the world population is constantly increasing and more and more water will be needed. In fact, the current population growth rate is around 1.08% a year.
As a matter of fact, delivering water to our households is not a simple task: distributing, pumping and purifying water requires a great amount of energy. Generating energy is a costly process and it harms the environment due to constant greenhouse gas emissions. What is more, saving energy reduces the cost of bills.
On average, around 12% of our daily consumption of water is employed for personal hygiene. Avoiding wasting water while brushing our teeth, for example, allows us to save both freshwater and money on bills.
Furthermore, taking measures to save water does not require a large amount of effort. Actually, making it a habit of turning off the water while brushing teeth and using a cup to rinse our mouth would already make us save a good amount of water. Moreover, opting for cold water instead of warm water helps us avoid wasting energy on heating.
There are other measures to reduce water waste while using tap water. One of them is to use faucet aerators in our bathrooms. Aerators are screwed onto the faucet head to create a non-splashing water stream mixed with air. Another way of achieving this goal is to reduce the water pressure in our household water pumps.
These methods allow you to save both water and money. And you, what are you doing to save water? How much does it make you save on your bills?