Guest Author - Arcadia Maximo

“Water, water, everywhere nor any drop to drink” –The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

This could one day be the plight of most of us if we don’t learn to conserve our most precious and valuable resource. Unfortunately I don’t feel that water gets as much attention as it deserves. Global Warming, politics, the housing crisis, and gas prices seem to dominate most headlines. But another issue that will probably have the most immediate impact will be the availability of clean, safe drinking water.

Luckily we don’t have a water shortage, (although I do remember being a little girl in the 80s and living through drought-like times.), but because water is expensive to transport, there are areas where water demand does exceed supply. It’s those areas where conservation is critical to their long term economic survival; because it’s not just drinking water that needs to be considered, it is water that is used for agriculture, industry and sanitation that needs to be replenished as well.

The availability and location of water is where ancient man usually made his habitat, it’s still the driving force for where most animals roam, and will be a decision making factor in the future on our land-use, building design and policy-making if we run out, not only in the US, but worldwide.

 On average 50 to 70 percent of home water is used outdoors for watering lawns and gardens, however, this varies across the country.
 Average household water use annually: 127,400 gallons
 Average daily household water use: 350 gallons
(Source: American Water Works Association)

The United States as a whole uses approximately 408 billion gallons of water each day and only about 4% of that flows through our pipes into our home and businesses! (Source: Green Builder Magazine, March 2007).

One thing we need to realize is that drinking water is never 100% pure. It contains minerals, sediments, bacteria, and even disinfectants. Most of this is quite harmless and even some of the minerals are necessary for our health but there are many contaminants that are dangerous. Here are some of the main ones you should look out for in your drinking water: Cryptosporidium, Lead, Nitrate, Turbidity (the cloudiness of your water) and Chlorine. Boiling your water, a reverse osmosis filter, or a carbon filter are all ways to remove the above harmful contaminants.

I, for one as a kid could never understand why there could ever be a water shortage when it flows freely from the sky. Couldn’t we just catch it in a barrel and use it? As naïve and child-like as this may sound, it’s actually a reality. I’ve been doing some investigating into what is simply called “Rain Harvesting”. It’s the act of collecting storm runoff water from a variety of surfaces and storing it in above or below ground tanks. Some people in very rural areas will simply leave a barrel next to the house and catch the runoff from there; it will then be used for a number of chores (i.e. washing dishes) around the house. In fact in most states in Australia, rain harvesting is mandatory on remodeling or new construction projects.

We here in San Francisco don’t pay for water that comes in through our pipes, what we pay for is the water we send down the drain, so some have said to me what’s the point in catching rain from the sky if it doesn’t save me any money on my water bill? Environmental reasons aside, this is true. But the bigger issue with water is not the capturing of it but the conserving of it. We “20 minute showers” Americans have a hard time fathoming this! We tend to equate conservation with having to go without. When in fact it’s quite the opposite, it means keep what you have, don’t let go, in other words quit wasting! As with all green living initiatives the first rule is to reduce. Is it really necessary to water our lawns with potable water? Why are we using clean drinking water to wash our cars? Maybe we can’t all go out an install a rain catchment system, but we CAN ALL reduce our consumption of water. Getting off junk mail lists is one way. It currently consumes 28 billion gallons of water a year! (Source: HarvestH2O.com)

I say it’s best to get used to conserving now on your own than to try and change lifestyle habits through government regulation. Water is an expensive commodity because the demand is higher than the supply. The expense is in the transportation of water to areas where the demand exceeds the supply and in some areas across the southern US they are already feeling the pinch of water deficits, with some serious deficit projections as early as 2015!