Water Conservation

Do you know how much water you use? If you don't, then consult this web page and you'll surely be surprised.

The Earth's surface is about 80 percent water, which equates to approximately 362,000,000,000,000 (362 trillion gallons). Of these 362 trillion gallons, only 3 percent or 10 trillion gallons are fresh water. Most of this fresh water is stored in glaciers and it leaves us with about two trillion gallons of fresh water for six billion people.

The USA processes and uses 367 billion gallons of water per day. An average person uses 123 gallons of water a day, paying 25 cents for it, a total of 225 billion dollars a month.

Household Products

Another surprising fact is the amount of water needed to produce household products. If you just bought a new car, that car you bought needed approximately 40 thousand gallons of water. For every new tire you put on your car, it takes 500 gallons of water to produce that tire.

Thanksgiving Dinner

For your Thanksgiving dinner, it may take as much as 42 thousand gallons of water to grow and prepare the food for that typical eight person dinner. It takes around 110 gallons to produce one egg. To process one chicken it takes 12 gallons of water. To process a can of vegetables: 10 gallons; one barrel of beer: 1500 gallons. To make one ton of granulated sugar from beet sugar it takes 33,000 gallons of water. To make one board foot of lumber it takes six gallons of water. A pound of plastic: 24 gallons; a pound of wool or a pound of cotton takes 100 gallons of water. To refine one barrel of crude oil: 2000 gallons; to produce one ton of steel: 63 thousand gallons.

Save Water

Are there any ways to save water besides not buying cars, clothes and food? Yes! There are ways, certain methods that you can take to conserve water in and out of your home. Most of these are helped by devices that use less water than ones made when there were not water conservation problems.

Ineffective Conservation Utilities

  • Toilet: 7 gallons Shower 9 gallons / minute
  • Dishwasher: 12 gallons
  • Top loading washer: 25 gallons
  • Hand washed dishes: 20 gallons
  • Running tap: 5 gallons / minute
  • Running hose: 25 gallons / minute
  • Watering sprinkler: 15 gallons / minute

Your toilet is the utility in your home that takes as much as 40 to 50 percent of your daily water usage. If you purchase a water saving toilet that flushes only 1.5 or 2 gallons per flush then you can save 100 – 200 gallons of water per day. It is possible to use only half of the water you already do, by purchasing and using low-flow devices.

Low-Flow Utilities

  • Toilet: 1.5 gallons
  • Shower: 3 gallons / minute
  • Dishwasher: 6 gallons / minute
  • H-series washer: 15 gallons
  • Sink faucets: 2 gallons / minute
  • Hose faucets: 10 gallons / minute
  • Sprinkler: 9 gallons / minute

If you have a leaking faucet that drip once every other second, then it is possible that you are wasting 84 gallons per month and around 1,000 gallons per year.

Teach your children about water conservation