Blog Action Day - Water

As I posted earlier, Blog Action Day is the one day of the year, October 15th, when bloggers from all around the world post about one important topic that helps to start a global discussion and hopefully results in people taking action and making changes. This years topic is WATER. For my part, I'd like to throw many different statistics at you, so you can have a better feel at how valuable and scarce our water supply is. I'll also include changes that we can make to help reduce our water usage.

( Please click picture for a larger image if having trouble reading )






So going with that, it says that 70% of our freshwater ( which remember is only 2.5% of the world's total water ) is used on agriculture. Now I know most of you are vegan, like myself, but do you actually know how much water it takes to produce a slab of meat?

1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of beef requires 1,799 gallons ( 6810 liters ) of water


1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of chicken requires 468 gallons ( 1,773 liters ) of water


1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of goat requires 127 gallons ( 480 liters ) of water


1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of pork requires 576 gallons ( 2,182 liters ) of water


1 pound ( 0.5 kilograms ) of sheep requires 731 gallons ( 2,769 liters ) of water


Being vegan I always knew that raising an animal took not only a lot of food but also a lot of water but I never thought about the second category that uses the most freshwater and that is industrial.


Did you know that it takes an estimated 39,090 gallons of water to make a car. It's unclear if that includes the more 2,000 gallons used to make its tires--each tire takes 518 gallons to make.


It takes around 1,800 gallons of water to grow enough cotton to produce just one pair of regular ol' blue jeans.


Not as bad as jeans, it still takes a whopping 400 gallons of water to grow the cotton required for an ordinary cotton shirt.


1 ton of cement requires 1,360 gallons of water.


This irony shouldn't be lost on anyone: it takes 1.85 gallons of water to manufacture the plastic for the bottle in the average commercial bottle of water!

And finally the remaining freshwater that is left is given to homes and cities. Follow this link helps you to figure out just about how much water you are using per day in your home.

I was shocked to learn that I am using about 1,000 gallons of water per day!

So why care? Did you know that about 1.8 billion people don't have access to clean water. Every year 3.6 million people die from water borne illness. It is said if we keep using water they way we are, clean water can become the scarcest resource of the 21st century. We need to make a change and make more of an effort to help reduce our water consumption.

Here are a few ideas of ways you can help cut down on your water usage at home...

1. Consider cutting a little water usage from your morning routine. Keeping a timer in your bathroom will remind you to wrap up and get out of the shower faster.


2. If a home renovation is in the cards, splurge on low-flow and water-efficient appliances they’ll save you money in the long-run. A front-loading washing machine, for example, uses 40-60% less water than top-loading machines.


3. A new toilet can save you water too, but if you can’t install a low-flow toilet, reduce the amount of water used by placing a jar or other closed container full of water into your toilet tank.


4. Install low-flow shower heads and sink spigots, which can both be purchased at your local hardware store, or contact your water utility company to find out if they distribute them for free.


5. When running the dishwasher, make sure it’s full to get the maximum use per drop. There’s no need to pre-rinse, since most of today’s models can handle any kind of grime.


6. Check for–and hastily repair– leaky pipes and faucets. The tiniest leak has far greater impact than you’d think.


7. Don’t use your sinks and drains as trash cans, and dispose of oil and other toxic materials properly. Just one gallon of oil reaching the sewer can contaminate one million gallons of fresh water.


8. Reduce water use in your own yard: Try collecting rainwater by placing containers at the end of each gutter. It’s perfect for watering your garden; water your lawn or garden in the morning or the evening when the water will evaporate less rapidly, and limit pesticide use, as they’ll eventually be carried into our freshwater supply by runoff.


9. Take the easy way out and hit the car wash. A car wash typically uses about 32 gallons of water per vehicle, but the EPA estimates that washing it yourself can use up to 500 gallons of water.


10. Take advantage of recreation opportunities on local lakes and rivers, and learn about the wildlife they support. It will help you understand what we could lose if we don’t manage our water wisely.

I got all my info from these websites :
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/embedded-water/

http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/freshwater-101-interactive/

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/06/how-many-gallons-of-water.php

http://www.aboutmyplanet.com/environment/reduce-water-money/