WATER CONSERVATION SHOULD BE CONSIDERED

 It all started with the television providing me background noise.

“Do not use water for any unnecessary tasks. No showers. No dishwashing.” At first I thought a pre-teen had taken over the news show, but then realized a public official was alerting Cedar Rapids residents that extreme measures were needed to guarantee safe drinking water. I turned and watched images of the Mighty Mississippi drowning the city. In my mind I heard a whisper from The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.”

Last summer my cousin in Georgia faced the opposite situation. Cummings was parched. Remember when the governor declared an emergency as the state had only forty days of water left?

Many of our thoughts this summer are consumed by the high price of gasoline but we need to face up to another crisis on the horizon, another crisis that is already causing international conflicts. Will our next war be for water instead of oil?

Here in Champaign County our homes rest on what was once wetlands, a large, flat plateau with no natural drainage. Even when we’ve experienced hot, dry summers, we have still been able to count on the relief provided by glasses of delicious water from the tap. Not everyone is that blessed. Over one billion people in the world, about one-sixth of the population, do not have safe drinking water.

Rick Smolan, author (along with Jennifer Erwitt) of Blue Planet Run: The Race to Provide Safe Drinking Water to the World, tells us that our oceans store 97% of the earth’s water. The remaining three percent is freshwater, with two-thirds locked in glaciers. Only one percent of the water supply on earth can be used for drinking water and we’re pulling water out of the ground four times faster than it’s going back into the ground.

Desalinate the oceans? No. If more than seven percent of the ocean is desalinated, the rest of it will die because of the balance needed between salinity and acidity.

Obviously safe drinking water must always be our first priority, but we use water for much more. In just one day I use water to make my coffee, take a shower, brush my teeth, boil the pasta, wash the dishes, do the laundry, flush the toilet, wash my hands multiple times, fill the dog’s dish, and water the garden. As an American, I probably use between 100 and 175 gallons of water every day at home. That is more than a gracious plenty. In comparison, an average Brit uses only a third of that, and to my shame, the average person in the developing world uses little more than two and one-half gallons.

As my concern about the amount of water that I consume mounted, I learned about the water footprint. It’s defined as the “total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed,” (www.waterfootprint.com). It takes over ten gallons of water to produce one slice of wheat bread for my open-faced sandwich; over eighteen gallons for an apple; thirty-seven gallons for my morning cup of coffee; over one thousand gallons for two pounds of chicken; over four thousand gallons for two pounds of beef. I am stunned.

Should we be without hope? No, but we need to pay attention.

We can support projects that dig wells and improve sanitation and hygiene in areas where six thousand children die every day.

We can encourage others who are developing new solutions and technologies while we do our part to conserve this resource. Each of us can make a difference.

My husband and I make sure the dishwasher is full before we run it and adjust the water level to match the load in the washing machine. It has finally become routine for us to turn off the faucet when we brush our teeth. This alone saves two to five gallons per brushing. Now my husband says we should shorten the length of our showers and informed me that Jennifer Aniston takes a two minute shower. I told him that I had a bit more skin to cover and might need to double that!