World Water Day 2012: How Much Water Do You Use Every Day? (INFOGRAPHIC)

How much water have you used today? It may be more than you think.

On March 22, join the United Nations and individuals across the world in celebrating the 19th annual World Water Day.

According to the U.N., the day is meant to focus "attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources."

As the infographic below shows, hundreds of millions of people lack access to clean water, while some of the most common products and services we use every day require hundreds, if not thousands, of gallons of water to exist.

The message on World Water Day may be clear, but the figures cited below can vary. For example, in 2008, the EPA stated that an average family may actually use up to 400 gallons of water daily. In terms of meat production, PETA suggested that it really takes "more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of meat."

One thing is certain, however. The proportion of people lacking access to clean water has dropped in recent years. The U.N. announced this week that it met its 2015 safe drinking water goals five years in advance. 11 percent of the world population still lacks access to clean water, but the number of individuals has dropped to 783 million, according to the Associated Press.

Yet the struggle for clean water is far from over. UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said in a statement, "Every day more than 3,000 children die from diarrheal diseases. Achieving this goal will go a long way to saving children's lives."

Matt Damon and Gary White, co-founders of water.org, blogged for HuffPost, "Instead of viewing this [problem] as an ocean of people with their hands out waiting for charity-driven solutions, what if we see many of them, or even most of them, as potential customers." They suggest that microfinance and its "democratizing" effect on "access to capital" may help address world water and sanitation problems.

Infographic courtesy of Whole Living magazine. Click here for their 50 ways to conserve water.

Comments

[kclopeck]

04:35 PM on 04/08/2013

I love that water IQ graphic. The statistics can be so hard for some to grasp and this does a great job of not only illustrating the crisis but also what we can do about it!

-Kate Clopeck
Community Water Solutions
www.communitywatersolutions.org

[Alkinea]

11:48 PM on 12/04/2012

Water usage in ancient Rome matched that of modern-day cities like New York City: about 300 gallons per day.

[Randy Konigsberg]

08:53 PM on 03/22/2012

Ever since Helen Keller said: WAAAAAH.....

[north of 60]

06:48 PM on 03/22/2012

I buy the water I use in my house from a water delivery service so I know exactly how much water I use. It averages 10 gallons per day for everything and I live very comfortably, I just don't waste it.

[Heidi Cuppari]

04:43 PM on 03/22/2012

Thank you for highlighting this important day. iDE is spreading awareness locally in Denver, CO with a day of service for volunteers to spread the word in the community about this issue.(http://blog.ideorg.org)

iDE has been focused on a market-based approach to water and food security for 30 years. We create affordable irrigation technology for people making $1/day to increase their yield and incomes in Asia, Africa and Central America.

Many of our volunteers have asked, what more can I do? So here’s something you as an individual can do:

• follow a healthier, sustainable diet;
• consume less water-intensive products;
• reduce the scandalous food wastage: 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost!
• produce more food, of better quality, with less water.

And of course, keep supporting great organizations that address this issue!

[EdRea]

11:39 AM on 04/22/2012

' 30% of the food produced worldwide is never eaten and the water used to produce it is definitively lost! '

Wow.

[WilmaJune]

03:49 PM on 03/22/2012

The article did not mention how the amount of water used was determined. Why would California residents use bottled water to bathe their children? If water is that scarce, no reason to build a house in the area.

[Charlessipe]

02:51 PM on 03/22/2012

Another excellent infographic: "Interesting facts about farm water conservation" http://www.seametrics.com/blog/farm-water-infographic/ "70% of fresh water use globally is for agriculture".

[EdRea]

11:49 AM on 04/22/2012

Great link. Thanks.

[satyrday]

10:53 AM on 03/22/2012

As long as rivers dump fresh water into the ocean, we have enough water. We just don't have it in all of the places people/farmers/livestock want to congregrate. And we could have it there, but it's just a matter of cost.

If you choose to live/work away from the source, you pay for it. What else is there to discuss?

[lehtovitra]

10:46 AM on 03/22/2012

Have to add here, for the yellow :)

http://open.spotify.com/track/2lCWQ5lySSMONx9pQvuZA9

[hardknocks]

10:25 AM on 03/22/2012

Save water shower with a friend.
Save water drink more beer.

[Dirk Bach]

10:16 AM on 03/22/2012

We are in progress, but there is no reason to rest. Everybody in Europe, US, etc. has to show solidarity and support charity organizations, which care about the goal „drinkable water for everybody“. Did you know that you are able to donate to UNICEF without even charging your budget? For example your old european vacation money (e.g. German d-mark, Spanish peseta) via mail. Change tomorrow with money from yesterday. More information: http://www.euromoney24.com/donations

[Vincent Collogan]

09:14 AM on 03/22/2012

OMG PETA, how much water do you think it takes to grown an ear of corn?!

[johanne v]

08:06 PM on 03/22/2012

how much corn do animals eat before being killed and processed into meat ?

[Linda from Deerfield]

09:12 AM on 03/22/2012

Well, even with the rain barrels and hot water pipe insulation, we were sometimes using more than the minimum billing amount, but we introduced retrofit dual flush and that brought it back down. The astounding thing is, once the municipality started billing on actual usage instead of a fixed amount, we saved $500/year.