10 Facts About Wasted Water

As the globe's temperature rises and the earth's weather patterns go haywire, water is quickly becoming a hot topic in the US and elsewhere. Floods are sweeping through new areas, while others are drying out faster than ever. We've long had the luxury of holding a cavalier attitude about the water we use, and more often than not that attitude has led us to unnecessary waste and pollution of our water.

Surprising facts on wasted water:

1. Americans now use 127 percent more water than we did in 1950.

2. About 95 percent of the water entering our homes goes down the drain.

3. Running the tap while brushing your teeth can waste 4 gallons of water.

4. Older toilets can use 3 gallons of clean water with every flush, while new toilets use as little as 1 gallon.

Read the 10 facts about the water we waste.

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More on green living from the Huffington Post.

Comments

[loki]

02:11 AM on 08/03/2008

water totally recycles itself unless its changed into some other form. Animals are even mostly water, and release water back into the system constantly. Water evaporates, rains down, and evaporates again. Even when you water your plants or crops, your putting water back into the system. and when they are dried, eaten whatever, water is put back into the system. An acre of corn is said to release something like 4000 gallons of water back into the air each day. Now I understand that there can be droughts at different times all around the world, and some places unfortunately get more drought time than others, just as some places get more rain than others. But the water is not destroyed or lacking, that is for sure. Its just not everywhere when its needed. This scam of buying up water and creating a pretend shortage to hike the prices like they do with oil and diamonds is just that, a scam. I think we should use water sensibly and conservatively, but I dont think we should allow the powers that be to use water as another way to make a lot of money by scamming the public with another shortage.

[bobbrouse]

11:18 AM on 07/31/2008

hi there
im a journalist ,i work at water.ca,
this article brings attention to a key event in human history.
our species is threatened by a host of things ,plagues,nuclear war, direct catastrophic
effects from climate change and this is a short list. now folks we have come to a crossroads
water. cant live without it. sure we can shutdown industries, de-salinate the oceans,
harvest rain and clean it up, problem is though its too late. the only way we are going to solve
this, and it is just my opinion is to attack this globally, completely and to a person. right now someone dies from water issues every 12 seconds or something close. unless we sit down as a globe and address this like the species ending issue that it could be, thats what we will get. the end. can we fix it?
probably. are we going to? i used to think for sure! now not so much. do we really have to go through a
global crisis before we look at this issue as a collective group? it just cant be. good on the huffpost for carrying this story.

[Badbone]

11:11 AM on 07/31/2008

How can water be wasted? It turns in hydrogen and oxygen and is never seen again? Water may be used in a non-optimal manner, but "wasted" is the wrong word.

[mamacat]

03:52 AM on 07/31/2008

The facts presented in the article are all valid. But, there are other facts to consider as well.

In California, 80% of water usage is for agriculture, and 20% for residences.
California has more irrigated acreage than any other state in the Union. Most of that acreage is irrigated by flooding, not more modern methods.

Rice farming in the state of California, for example, uses as much water for that one crop as is used by all of the people in all of the residences of Los Angeles and San Diego combines.

According to reporter Kevin Roderick, more water is lost to evaporation on California's rice farms than is used by all of the people of Los Angeles in a year.
Because many rice farmers are gauranteed water rates that are below cost, and about 1/25 of what is charged by the DWP in Los Angeles, some rice farmers have started selling their water to the DWP instead of growing rice. Close to 100% of rice farmers in California get subsidies from the federal government.

So, conservation by residents is indeed important, but what about modernising farming practices, and prioritising crop choices? Rice farming has been going on in California for about 100 years, but maybe it is time to reevaluate its practicality in some locales.

[JScott]

12:06 PM on 07/31/2008

Then let's remind folks that very little subsidies are given for growing commodity crops in Calif. unlike mid america BUT instead they get heavily subsidized water to sometimes grow heavy water use crops (like rice), not to mention the (taxpayer funded?) complicated plumbing/waterworks to deliver it.

[mamacat]

05:16 PM on 07/31/2008

Feb. 12, 2005, AP, Jim Wasserman:

"California's $27 billion-a-year farm economy, the nations largerst, ranked ninth in federal payments, mostly for major export crops such as cotton and rice. California's many fruit and nut crops do not qualify."

According to the Giannini Foundation of Agricultural Economics;

"Only nine percent of California's 74,000 farms received federal commodity subsidies......However, federal subsidies are very important for certain California commodities, such as rice, cotton, and dairy."