All The Water in the World

by Amy on October 20, 2011

 While I was thinking about my laundry problem, I started looking into the world water situation and found this quote:

 Within the next 100 years…“Water will shape the full spectrum of economic, political and social trends, as well as how we make decisions.  We will all begin to view water more as a precious resource rather than a free commodity to be exploited and wasted.” Steve Maxwell, The Future of Water: A Startling Look Ahead

Now, imagine you have a glass that is full of water.

All The Water In The World

In that glass is all the water in, on and around the world, all 1.4 billion km³ of it. Only 2.5% of that water is considered freshwater.  Of the 35 million km³ of freshwater:

– 70% is trapped in ice or snow

– 0.3% is in rivers and lakes

– .05% is in the atmosphere

– About 1% is usable fresh water – 350 thousand km³ or 0.03% of all the water in, on and around the world.

That is a limited resource!

Unlike oil, water isn’t finite. It replenishes itself through the earth’s climate cycle.  Because of this we often take it for granted. Also unlike oil, water is something all of nature needs to survive and something which we all have a very intimate relationship. We drink, bathe, swim in and enjoy water. The problem is that, given business as usual, in the next 20 years, world demand for fresh water will outpace supply by 40%.

Also unlike oil, water is seen as a local resource and is consumed and conserved based upon the perceptions of its availability in a particular area.  It is not valued as a resource shared with other geographic locations let alone with the whole world.  In the USthis leads to unbalanced approaches to water use and conservation.  The Water Footprint Network is attempting to change our valuation of water and to highlight its value as a resource.

Right now the world’s 6.8 billion people use 54% of the usable fresh water.  But, according to the UN, even without outpacing supply, distribution of freshwater around the world is unequal to the point that many people have no access to water: 1.5 million people die every year because of lack of access to clean, potable freshwater and/or poor sanitation. 1.6 billion people have no access to sanitation. Half of the people in the world who suffer from malnutrition, suffer because of water borne and sanitation related issues. These are startling numbers. For us Americans though they seem like far off statistics – problems in another place. Hey,America, we need to wake up.

In October 2010 Wall Street 24/7 reported the ten largestUScities (by population) that have the greatest chance of running out of water in the near future (less than 50 and in some cases 2-3 years):Orlando,Atlanta,Tucson,Las Vegas,Fort Worth, the San Francisco Bay Area,San Antonio,Phoenix,HoustonandLos Angeles.  These areas represent 6% of the USpopulation.

According to the United States Geological Service, we Americans use about 408 billion gallons of freshwater a day. The Environmental Protection Agency calculates that average per household consumption of water is 190 gallons per day (gphd). That is a lot of water.

Turns out that doing some simple things at your house can result in tremendous reductions in water consumption.

  • Install Water Sense Certified plumbing fixtures: A recent EPA shows that this can lead to a 42% decrease in consumption for the whole house.
  • Use Energy Star Appliances
  • Capture Rainwater and use it in the garden, do the wash and flush the toilets: 27% of the drinking water we use everyday is used outside to water the lawn! Not only is that a waste of a precious resource, in many areas it costs a lot of money.
  • Capture, treat and reuse Graywater: Your system could collects water from tubs, showers, bathroom sinks, clothes washers and laundry sinks and then reuse it for landscaping and/or for toilets.
  • Install Regionally Appropriate, Drought Tolerant Landscaping and do not install irrigation.
  • Create areas for on-Site Infiltration of Stormwater: Look at stormwater as a resource rather than a waste product by adding raingardens, landscaped infiltration boxes and bioswales, vegetated rooftops and permeable paving to your landscape.
  • Insulate your hot and cold water piping : Insulating the hot water system reduces consumption by reducing the time required to bring hot water to the spigot and preserves the heat in the hot water through its run to the demand point.

Water is precious and it is up to all of us to conserve what we have for the health of us all — and to save money on utilities and energy.

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